BL 
808 


IRLF 


MS    flflO 


C\i 


27  I91S 


RITES  AID  RITUAL  ACTS 


AS  PRESCRIBED  BY 
THE    ROMAN    RELIGION 

ACCORDING  TO 

THE  COMMENTARY  OF  SERVIUS  ON  VERGIL'S  AENEID 


.  .  .  Morem  ritusque  sacrorum 
adiciam  .  .  . 

Verg.  Aen.  XII :  836,  837. 


VOELCKER  BROS.,  NEW  YORK 
1916 


Bibliography. 

Sources : 

Servii  Grammatici  qui  feruntur  in  Vergilii  Carmina  Commentarii. 
Teubner  Text. 

Vol.  I.     Aeneidos  Librorum    1-5    Commentarii.     Thilo.     1881. 
Vol.  II.  Aeneidos  Librorum  6-12  Commentarii.     Thilo.     1884. 

Authorities  : 

Wissowa:    Religion  und  Kultus  der  Roemer.    Muenchen.    1902. 
Preller:    Roemische  Mythologie.    Berlin.    Dritte  Auflage  von  H. 
Jordan.    I.  Band  1881.    II.  Band  1883. 

Luebker:     Reallexikon  des  Klassischen  Altertums.    Leipzig.    1882. 
6.  Auflage  von  Dr.  Max  Erler. 


335955 


Synopsis. 

Introduction : 

Vergil,  the  Bible  of  the  Romans.  Servius'  commentary  on  Vergil. 
Servius  brevior  and  plenior.  Abundance  of  Roman  rites  and 
ritual  acts  especially  in  the  commentary  on  the  Aeneid. 

Theme : 

RITES  AND  RITUAL  ACTS, 
AS  PRESCRIBED  BY  THE  ROMAN  RELIGION, 

ACCORDING    TO 

THE  COMMENTARY  OF  SERVIUS  ON  VERGIL'S  AENEID. 


I.   In  private  life. 

PAOE 

1.)    At    weddings. 

Auguria,   auspicia   nuptiarum 2 

Marriage  through  confarreatio  and  coemptio 2 

A  wedding  procession 3 

Nuptial  sacrifices  and  unpropitious  omens 4 

2.)     In    married    or    domestic     life. 

Jupiter  Herceus.    Penates.     A  meal  in  the  atrium.     Lares .  .  4 

Deities  of  matrimony  contra  and  pro 5 

Matronalia 6 

Fortuna  Muliebris 6 

Pilumnus    and    Pitumnus.  .  .                     6 


3.)      In     certain     universal    cases. 

Need    and    danger 6 

Illness.  .  7 


4.)      For       several       expressly       stated       trades, 
professions,    etc. 

Peasants 7 

Sailors 8 

Bakers  and  all  tradesmen  who  use  water  at  their  trade.  ...  8 

Merchants   and  physicians 8 

Freedmen 8 

II 


5.)      In  cases  of  death. 

PAGE 

Suicides   by  hanging  left  unburied,  otherwise  interment  uni- 
versal.    Iniectio  terrae  and  xsvota<?tov    9 

The  deceased  lay  in  state  in  the  house  for  7  days.     Twig  of 

cypress  at  the  door.     Pollinctor.     Conclamatio 9 

Funus  and  exequiae.    Humatio.     Crematio 10 

Sepulture  on  the  9th  day.   Novendiale.    Ludi  funebres.    Gladi- 

atores.   Bustuarii 12 

Manes,  Lares,  Larvae,  Lemur es,  Genii 12 


II.   In  public  life. 

A.)      The     common     rituals     in     connection     with 
sacrificia,     sacra,     I u d i ,     sacerdotes. 

1.)     Sacrificia. 

What  is  sacrificium?     What  litatio? 13 

Unbloody  sacrifices 14 

Bloody   sacrifices.     Human   sacrifices? 14 

Animal  sacrifices.     Hostiae.     Victimae 15 

Certain  animals  for  certain  deities  or  certain  occasions 15 

Quality   of   victims 15 

How  was  a  sacrifice  performed? 16 

Piaculum 16 

Sacrificia  indictiva  and  anniversaria  or  sollemnia 17 

A  Roman  public  sacrifice 17 

Visceratio.    Holocaustum 18 

2.)      Sacra. 

Mysteries  of  Liber,  of  Juno  Caelestis,  of  Hecate,  of  Isis 18 

Sacra  gentilicia.  Sacra  gentilicia  publica:  The  Potitii  and 
Pinarii  and  Hercules;  the  gens  Nautia  and  Minerva;  the  gens 
Julia  and  Apollo 19 

8.)      Ludi. 

Consualia.  Ludi  Apollinares,  theatrales,  Compitalicii,  fune- 
bres, Taurei 20 

4.)      Sacerdotes . 

Characteristics  in  general.     Official  garb,  etc 21 

III 


B.)  The  special  ritual  acts  of  those  who 
were  authorized  to  perform  them  by 
virtue  of  their  official  position. 

1.)      The  Pontifices  and   the  Pontifex  Maximus. 

PAGE 

Name.      Duties.      Indigitamenta 21 

What  was  forbidden  them? 22 

Lapis  manalis,  etc .  .  . .  . 23 

Pontifex  Maximus  and  the  Annales 23 

2.)      The      Rex     Sacrorum     and     the     Re  gin  a. 

When  instituted?    Rank  of  position.    Kalendae  and  Idus .  ...   23 
Regina  and  her  covering  for  the  head 23 

3.)      The    Flamines. 

Flamines  maiores  and  minores 24 

Flamen  Dialis  and  Flaminica.     Confarreatio 24 

Secespita.     CamilH  and  Camillae 24 

Their  covering  for  the  head.    Hence  their  name.    Official  garb.  24 
Their  restrictions  in  contrast  to  the  other  Flamines 25 

4.)      The     V  es  tales     V  ir  g  in  e  s  . 

Who  and  where  were  they? 26 

Their  service 26 

Caca 26 

The  penates  of  Aeneas  and  the  so-called  Magni  Dei 27 

5.)      The    A  u  g  u  r  e  s    and    Auspices. 

Their  introduction.     Dress 27 

Augurium  and  auspicium 28 

Signa  ex  caelo  et  ex  avibus.    Position  of  the  augur  at  these.  .   28 

Signa  ex  tripudiis,  etc 29 

Signa    ex    diris 29 

The  augurs  and  magistrates.    Auguria  oblativa  et  inpetrativa  29 
Auspicia  and   war 30 

IV 


6.)      The      Quindecimviri     sacris     faciundis. 

PAGE 
Their   function  and  number 30 

Sibylla.    The  Sibylline  books.    Emblems  of  the  Quindecimviri.   30 


7.)      The     Haruspices. 

Originally  Etruscan.    Tages  and  his  books,  besides  others.  .  .   31 
Inspection    of    entrails.      Doctrine    of    lightning.      Prodigia, 

Manubiae  and  divisions  of  the  sky 31 

Kinds  of  lightning.     Its  triple  power 32 


8.)      The     Fe  tidies     and     Pater     patratus. 

Their  symbols.    Pater  patratus.     Dress 32 

Foedus  with  fire  and  water 32 

Clarigatio.     Declaration  of  war 33 

9.)      The    Salii. 

Derivation  of  the  name.    The  several  collegia .  .  . 33 

The  ancilia.     Mamurius  and  the  Mamuralia 34 

10.)      The     Luperci. 

Their  name 34 

Lupercalia 34 

Hirpi  Sorani 35 

11.)      The      Magistratus,      especially      the      Magi- 
stratus     maiores. 

Magistrate   in   general.     Imperatores.     Consules.      Praetores. 

Dictator 35 

Census  and  Censores 35 

The  Praetor  urbanus  at  the  ara  maxima 36 

Conclusion : 

General  concluding  remarks 36 

Ritualism  of  Romans  no  matter  of  the  soul 36 

Laudatory  remarks  for  Servius.     Value  of  his  commentary.  .  36 


As  Homer  was  for  the  Greeks,  so  Vergil  was  for  the  Romans 
in  a  certain  measure  their  Bible.  Even  in  the  last  days  of 
passing  paganism,  when  Christianity  had  long  been  made 
state  religion  by  Constantine  the  Great,  and  the  Council  of 
Nicaea  (325)  had  long  taken  place,  certain  classes  or  circles 
stubbornly  adhered  to  the  "old  belief."  What  pains  they  did 
take  to  save  of  it,  what  perhaps  still  might  be  saved ;  how  they 
did  cling  to  Vergil,  the  Bible  of  their  ancestors !  There  were, 
for  instance,  Symmachus,  Macrobius,  Servius,  who  in  the 
Testimonium  Animae  (Dr.  E.  G.  Sihler)  pg.  360  are  very 
properly  called  the  "old  believers,  the  clover-leaf  of  the  dusk 
of  the  gods, ' '  —  Symmachus,  who  under  Theodosius  the  Great 
in  384  held  the  office  of  praefectus  urbis  and  in  391  that  of 
consul,  and  who  even  as  a  public  official  plainly  and  mani- 
festly worked  with  great  zeal  for  the  restoration  of  the  ancient 
deities,  who  even  requested  his  Christian  emperor  by  all 
means  to  retain  the  altar  of  Victory  in  the  senate-hall,  since 
he,  Theodosius,  owed  so  much  to  Victory ;  Macrobius,  in  whose 
"Saturnalia"  eminent  men  and  deep  scholars  express  their 
opinion  about  the  "old  belief"  etc.,  mainly  in  connection  with 
Vergil;  Servius,  who  is  mentioned  in  the  "Saturnalia"  as  one 
of  the  participants  of  the  conversation,  a  modest  young  man, 
but  of  profound  erudition  (Macrob.  Sat.  1,  2,  15;  7,  11,  2), 
and  an  authority  in  questions  pertaining  to  Vergil  (Macrob. 
Sat.  6,  6,  1),  as  we  see  from  his  commentary  on  Vergil,  which 
is  still  extant  to-day,  although  perhaps  not  in  its  original  form. 
The  problem  of  Servius  plenior  and  brevior  we  will  not  discuss 
at  this  point,  in  fact  we  could  say  nothing  new  about  it.  For 
our  work  we  shall  make  use  of  both,  since  both  are  set  forth 
in  the  edition  of  Thilo,  to  which  we  refer,  of  course,  clearly 
distinguished  from  each  other  by  printing.  And  from  this 
so-called  Commentary  of  Servius,  Servii  Grammatici  qui 
feruntur  in  Vergilii  Carmina  Commentarii,  or  rather,  in  order 
to  define  more  closely  the  boundaries  which  we  have  drawn, 
from  the  so-called  commentary  of  Servius  on  Vergil 's  Aeneid, 
we  shall  gather  and  group  whatever  is  found  in  it  about  Rites 
and  Ritual  Acts,  as  prescribed  by  the  Roman  Religion,  in 
private  life  and  in  public  life;  for  from  the  very  mutilated 


definition  of  ritus  (Servius  Aen.  XII:  836),  we  learn  at  least 
that  by  ritus  are  not  only  to  be  understood  "usages  in 
religious  cult,  but  also  usages  in  private  life,  inasmuch  as  they 
have  any  religious  relation  and  consecration." 


Rites  and  Ritual  Acts, 

as  prescribed  by  the  Roman  Religion. 

I.     In   private  life. 

Gladly  would  we  have  shown  here  at  the  beginning  of  the 
first  part  of  our  work,  how  the  whole  life  of  the  Roman  citizen, 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  was  influenced  by  ritualism  and 
was  not  only  overshadowed,  but  also  regulated  by  it; 
unfortunately,  however,  nothing  at  all  can  be  found  in  the 
commentary  of  Servius  on  the  Aeneid,  which  refers  to  rites 
for  childhood  and  early  youth.  Therefore,  let  us  begin  our 
discussion  with  weddings. 

1.)   At   weddings. 

How  beautiful  and  significant  is  the  quotation  of  Servius 
(1:346):  Romani  nihil  nisi  captatis  faciebant  auguriis,  et 
praecipue  nuptias!  A  similar  quotation  we  find  in  IV:  45: 
nuptiae  fiebant  captatis  auguriis.  About  these  auguria 
nuptiarum,  to  be  sure,  very  little  is  known;  even  Servius 
says  little  or  nothing  about  it.  He  mentions,  it  is  true,  (IV :  45) 
auspices  nuptiarum  and  (IV:  166)  auspicia  nuptiarum,  but 
that  is  all.  Wissowa  (Religion  und  Kultus  der  Roemer,  pg. 
324,  1)  says:  "In  private  worship  the  auspicatio  gradually 
waned.  The  private  auspices  still  exist,  i.  e.  in  name,  in  the 
nuptiarum  auspices,  which  represent  the  rest  of  former 
auspicia  nuptiarum." 

The  forms  of  marriage  which  Servius  mentions  are  the 
confarreatio  and  the  coemptio  (IV:  103).  The  confarreatio 
(from  /arretm=sacrificial  wheat-cake)  was  evidently  the 
oldest  and  most  dignified  form,  since  the  fllamen  Dialis  and 
the  Flaminica  could  be  married  by  confarreatio  only. 
Coemptio,  as  the  word  implies,  was  a  mutual  buying  of  bride 
and  bridegroom.  The  bride  thereby  passed  out  of  the  parental 


—  3  — 

potestas  into  the  power  of  her  husband  (conventio  in  manus). 
She  took,  it  is  true,  upon  herself  in  a  certain  measure  a  "lib era 
servitus,"  yet  she  was  rewarded  (XI :  581)  with  the  honorable 
name  of  mater familias.  Her  dowry  (dos)  likewise  became 
property  of  her  husband. — 

The  solemn  procession  to  the  house  of  the  husband  took 
place  by  torchlight,  and  at  the  procession  a  boy  who  was  a 
descendant  of  a  "still  blooming  and  blessed  marriage"  (puer 
felicissimus)  or  a  girl  of  equal  descent  carried  a  basin  filled 
with  water  from  a  pure  fountain  (IV:  167).  The  bride 
herself  carried  wool,  in  order  to  indicate  that  in  married  life 
she  would  spin  and  weave.  (Minerva  est  dea  lanificii  (VII: 
808;  lana  in  tutela  Minervae  est  VIII:  128.)  Upon  her 
arrival  at  the  threshold  of  the  house  the  bride  decorated  the 
doorposts  with  woolen  fillets  as  a  token  of  her  purity;  then 
she  anointed  the  posts  with  oil  (uxor  =  unxor  from  ungere) 
or  sometimes  with  the  fat  of  a  wolf,  either  because  the  latter 
was  said  to  be  a  remedy  for  many  things,  or  because  Romulus 
and  Remus  were  reared  by  a  she-wolf  (IV:  458).  She  was 
by  no  means  allowed  to  step  on  the  threshold  of  the  house 
( II :  469 ) ,  for  the  threshold,  —  limen,  often  identical  with 
vestibulum  —  is  consecrated  to  Vesta,  and  here  at  the  thres- 
hold she  who  thus  arrived  with  fire  and  water,  was  received 
by  the  bridegroom  who  likewise  appeared  with  fire  and  water, 
the'  two  most  important  elements  which  are  indispensable 
in  every  household  (IV:  103,  167,  339).  Upon  entering  the 
house  the  cry  "Thalassio"  was  raised  (1:651).  Wedding 
songs  were  sung  (Hymenaeus  signifying  not  only  god  of 
matrimony  1 :  651,  but  also  wedding  song  IV:  127)  ;  the  harsh 
versus  Fescennini  too  (VII:  695)  could  not  be  omitted.  The 
cry  "Thalassio"  is  said  to  date  back  to  the  time  of  the  rape  of 
the  Sabine  virgins.  A  plebeian  (1:651),  who  was  afraid  that 
he  would  be  deprived  of  his  exceptionally  handsome  maiden, 
is  said  to  have  shouted  again  and  again :  ' '  She  is  Thalassio  's, 
the  chief's,"  and  thereby  he  kept  her  for  himself.  Of  the 
various  legends  about  Hymenaeus  the  following  at  least, 
which  has  a  certain  resemblance  to  the  Thalassio  legend  may 
be  mentioned:  There  was  a  handsome  Athenian  youth, 
Hymenaeus,  as  charming  as  a  girl;  moreover,  he  loved  a 
virgin  of  an  aristocratic  family,  but  could  not  marry  her, 
because  he  was  poor.  One  day  he  followed  her  to  Eleusis,  to 
the  festival  of  Demeter,  but  pirates  came  and  led  him  with 


—  4  — 

his  sweetheart  and  the  other  maidens  over  the  wide,  wide 
sea  to  a  deserted  region.  The  pirates  fell  asleep,  Hymenaeus 
slew  them,  returned  to  Athens  and  promised  to  bring  back 
the  captured  virgins  on  condition  that  his  sweetheart  be 
given  to  him  in  marriage.  This  was  granted  and  ever  since 
then  they  connected  his  name  with  every  wedding  in  song 
(IV:  99),— 

The  bride  sacrificed  to  Tellus  before  and  after  her  journey 
to  the  house  of  her  husband  (IV:  166).  Juno  above  all  was 
the  goddess  of  matrimony,  whence  her  name  Juno  iugalis 
(IV:  16)  or  generally  pronuba  —  divine  brides-maid  (IV:  45, 
59,  166).  According  to  the  Etrusca  disciplina  earthquakes 
and  thunderstorms  are  not  at  all  fitting  to  a  wedding 
(IV:  166),  lightning  is  an  evil  omen  (IV:  167)  and  thunder 
makes  void  the  confarreatio  (IV:  399). 

2.)   In   married   or   domestic   life. 

Quite  analogous  to  Zevc  'Epxsloc  of  the  Greeks,  the 
Romans  had  their  Jupiter  Herceus  as  the  protecting  deity 
of  house  and  home.  The  maceries  (quae  ambit  domum 
11:469)  was  sacred  to  him,  but  the  kitchen  (culina)  was 
sacred  to  the  penates.  By  penates  Servius  understands  in 
general  omnes  dei,  qui  domi  coluntur  (II :  514 ;  cf.  also  V :  64) , 
i.  e.  the  gods  of  the  house,  protecting  deities  of  the  inner 
household;  for  the  word  "penates"  is  connected  with  penitus, 
meaning  inner,  inside,  or  with  penetralis,  i.  e.  belonging  to 
the  interior,  or  it  is  perhaps  best  derived  from  penus,  meaning 
supply  of  provision  or  its  place  of  storage.  Sacrifices  were 
made  to  the  penates  "in  focis"  (1 :  704;  III :  178),  and  focus, 
related  to  fovere  (III :  134),  is  even  called  ara  penatium  (XI : 
211). 

The  atrium,  the  spacious  hall  blackened  with  smoke  (atrum 
ex  fumo,  for  there  the  kitchen  was  located),  was  the  real 
family  room  of  the  Romans.  Here  the  paterfamilias  kept 
his  money-chest,  and  here  the  daily  meals  consisting  of  two 
courses  were  served,  as  Cato  attests  (1 :  726 ;  IX :  645) .  After 
the  first  course  (sublatis  primis  mensis),  whatever  food  and 
wine  had  been  set  apart  for  the  gods,  —  and  to  the  gods 
who  were  worshipped  in  the  house,  there  belonged  according 
to  VI :  152  besides  the  penates  also  the  lares  familiar es  — 
was  carried  to  the  hearth  and  given  over  to  the  flames.  All 
this  was  done  in  silence,  until  the  servant  said :  "Dii  propitii" 


(1:730).  The  same  devout  silence  was  likewise  observed, 
after  the  light  had  been  lit.  At  the  libatio  the  Romans  used 
to  adorn  the  cups  with  wreaths  (I:  724).  Furthermore,  they 
had  special  tables  which  they  used  at  the  libatio  and  which 
were  often  called  bread  tables,  mensae  paniceae  (1:736; 
VII:  111);  these  tables  were  usually  round  (111:257).— 

Servius  IV :  58  proposes  a  general  rule,  to  sacrifice  to  the 
propitious  gods  that  they  may  lend  their  help,  and  to  the 
unpropitious  that  they  may  do  no  harm  (cf.  also  III:  120). 
This  rule,  very  likely,  also  applied  to  women  in  their  married 
life,  for  III :  139  Servius  mentions  Venus  as  the  goddess  of 
matrimony  and  Ceres  as  the  goddess  of  divorce ;  Juno  as  the 
goddess  of  matrimonial  blessings  and  Saturnus  and  Luna  as 
deities  of  sterility.  No  traces  are  found  in  Servius  that  Venus 
in  particular  and  under  special  rites  was  honored  by  women. 
Nor  does  Servius  explain  why  sterility  is  attributed  to 
Saturnus  and  Luna,  (by  conjecture  Lua;  thus  also  Preller, 
Roemische  Mythologie  11:22,3  and  Wissowa  pg.  172).  But 
we  are  told  VIII :  343  that  at  the  Lupercalia  women  submit- 
ted themselves  to  be  beaten  with  a  strap  made  of  the  skin 
of  a  he-goat,  ut  careant  sterilitate  et  sint  fecundae.  Regarding 
Ceres  as  the  goddess  of  divorce,  Servius  at  least  refers  to  the 
fact  that  Ceres  cursed  matrimony,  because  Jupiter  who  pre- 
ferred Juno  to  her,  had  rejected  her  as  his  wife,  or  because 
her  daughter  had  been  kidnapped.  Furthermore  Servius  says 
that  at  her  festival  in  Rome  not  even  the  name  of  the  father 
or  of  the  daughter  was  allowed  to  be  mentioned  (IV:  58), 
and  that  women  on  certain  days  of  the  festival  imitated  the 
lamentation  of  Ceres  at  cross-roads  ( IV:  609).— 

The  chief  goddess  of  matrimony,  however,  was  and  remained 
Juno.  At  Tibur  she  was  invoked  by  prayer :  '  *  Oh  Juno,  in 
thy  chariot  sublime,  preserve  in  good  health  with  thy  chariot 
and  thy  shield  the  young  issue  of  my  curia  (1 : 17) . "  She  was 
worshipped  by  the  women  as  Lucina,  the  goddess  of  birth 
(quae  praeest  partibus  1:8),  and  whosoever  was  approaching 
her  temple  on  the  Esquiliae,  was  not  permitted  to  have  about 
herself  a  knot  which  might  perhaps  prevent  giving  easy  birth 
(IV:  518).  An  easy  or  quick  birth  brought  luck  to  the 
children  also  (VIII:  139).  In  honor  of  Juno  the  Roman 
matronae  i.e.  "the  married,  honorable  women"  (Wissowa), 
"mothers  of  ancient  Roman  descent"  (Preller),  celebrated 
with  sacrifice  and  prayer  on  the  first  of  March  the  so-called 


—  6  — 

Matronalia,  a  festival,  which  dated  back  even  to  the  time  of 
Romulus  and  Remus  and  the  rape  of  the  Sabine  virgins 
(VIII:  638).  In  domestic  circles,  too,  this  festival  was  cele- 
brated in  a  pleasant  and  happy  manner ;  else  why,  I  wonder, 
the  reference  of  Servius  to  the  tragicomic  question  of  the 
old  bachelor  Horace  (Od.  111:8)  Martiis  caelebs  quid  agam 
Kalendisf  - 

Servius  mentions  still  another  festival  for  women,  namely 
one  which  women  celebrated  in  the  temple  of  Fortuna 
Muliebris,  at  the  same  place  where  once  Coriolanus,  moved 
by  the  prayers  of  the  women  and  of  his  mother  and  his  wife, 
agreed  to  turn  back.  Only  women  who  lived  in  their  first 
state  of  matrimony,  could  adorn  the  statue  of  Fortuna 
Muliebris,  Ms  nuptae  a  sacerdotio  repellebantur  (IV:  19.)  - 

And  now,  in  the  conclusion  of  this  chapter,  two  more  deities 
may  be  mentioned,  who,  especially  in  the  country,  were  of 
great  importance  in  the  life  of  a  mother;  these  deities  are 
Pilumnus  and  Pitumnus.  For  these  gods  a  "lectus"  was 
prepared  in  the  atrium,  near  the  young  mother  (puerpera), 
until  it  was  ascertained  whether  the  child  was  fit  to  live. 
Varro  calls  them  deities  of  infants,  and  Piso  connects  the 
name  Pilumnus  with  pello,  "quid  pellat  mala  infantiae" 
(X:76). 

3).  In    certain    universal    cases. 

Not  much,  of  course,  can  be  mentioned  here,  yet  simply 
to  pass  over  what  little  there  is,  would  not  be  proper.  Regard- 
ing cases  of  need  and  danger,  Servius  first  refers  to  the 
asylum  at  Rome  which  Romulus  had  instituted  as  an  imitation 
of  that  which  the  sons  of  Hercules  had  founded  at  Athens. 
An  asylum  is,  as  the  word  itself  indicates  (  a  privativum 
and  avJlacedai] ,  an  inviolable  place  under  the  protection  of 
the  deity,  where  the  persecuted  found  protection  (11:761; 
VIII:  342;  VIII:  635).  Originally  such  places  of  protec- 
tion were  sacred  groves  or  districts ;  cf .  also  II :  512,  where 
Servius  quotes  from  the  sixth  book  of  Varro 's  Res  Divinae: 
''such  loca  sacra  had  to  be  in  the  cities,  in  order  that  a 
possible  fire  should  not  sweep  entire  rows  of  houses  (continua 
aedificia),  and  that  there  should  be  something  where  one  in 
need  or  danger  could  take  refuge  with  his  family."  Later, 
real  temples  i.e.  edifices  were  included  to  have  the  privileges 
of  the  asylum;  hence  ibidem  (11:512)  "Those  in  danger 


flee  to  the  altars  for  protection."  The  temple  of  Juno,  for 
example,  (11:761)  had  the  privileges  of  an  asylum,  yet 
Servius  expressly  adds :  ' '  Not  all  temples  had  this  privilege, 
but  only  those  to  which  it  was  granted  by  the  lex  consecra- 
tionis."  Furthermore,  whenever  one  who  was  condemned 
to  a  flogging  was  led  away  and  succeeded  on  his  way  thither 
to  embrace  the  feet  or  knees  of  the  Flamen  Dialis,  in  such 
a  case  no  punishment  could  be  inflicted  on  him  (111:607). 
Those  who  had  been  put  in  fetters  were  soon  freed  from 
them,  if  they  were  fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  enter  the 
house  of  the  Flamen  Dialis;  the  fetters  then  were  carried 
through  the  court-yard  to  the  roof  and  from  there  were  cast 
down  to  the  street  (11:57). — 

Juturna,  furthermore,  was  a  Roman  fountain  nymph 
(XII:  139),  and  great  power  of  healing  was  attributed  to 
the  water  of  her  fountain,  near  the  rivulet  Numicus.  This 
power  of  healing  the  very  name  of  the  nymph  implies, 
Juturna,  quae  laborantes  (those  who  are  ill)  iuvare  consuevit; 
therefore  the  water  of  this  fountain  was  certainly  highly 
esteemed  by  invalid  persons. 

4.)  For  several  expressly  stated  trades, 
professions,  etc. 

"Without  sacrifices  no  field  can  be  tilled"  (111:136),  a 
testimony  which  speaks  well  for  the  peasants.  Saturnus  is 
the  ancient  Italian  deity  of  the  crop,  the  author  of  agriculture 
and  the  blessings  arising  from  it  (VIII:  319).  Originally  he 
was  king  of  Crete,  but,  dethroned  by  his  son  Jupiter,  he 
found  under  Janus  in  Latium  a  domicile  and  kingdom.  The 
knowledge  of  cultivating  the  vine,  the  use  of  sickle  and  scythe, 
the  "human"  way  of  living,  all  this  they  owed  to  him.  His 
wife  is  called  Ops  =  Terra  (XI:  532).  At  the  Saturnalia, 
not  a  festival  for  the  peasantry  alone,  but  rather  a  uni- 
versal festival  for  all  people,  pleasant  and  delightful  memories 
were  cherished  of  the  dear  old  days  under  the  regime  of 
Saturn.  Even  slaves  were  at  this  festival  treated  as  freemen 
and  entertained  accordingly  (VIII:  319).  Furthermore, 
Ceres  is  mentioned  as  the  goddess  of  the  peasantry  (II :  713)  ; 
Faunus  who  is  identical  with  the  Greek  deity  77 dr,  is 
Inuus  (ab  ineundo),  the  deity  of  fecundation  of  the  herds 
(VI:  775),  the  protector  against  wolves  (VIII:  343). 
Silvanus  is  the  deity  of  cattle  and  fields  (VIII :  601)  ;  and  as 


the  god  who  had  taught  them  the  fertilization  of  fields,  the 
peasants  celebrated  Pitumnus  (IX:  4),  who  consequently 
received  the  surname  Sterculinius.  — 

Sailors  also  had  their  special  deities.  Of  Neptune  and  his 
worship  Servius  only  mentions  this  one  thing  (11:220; 
III:  118)  that  only  a  bull  could  be  sacrificed  to  him. 
Portunus,  the  deity  of  harbors,  who  was  identified  with  the 
Greek  Palaemon  (V:241),  as  well  as  Phorcus,  who  accord- 
ing to  Varro  was  originally  king  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica, 
but  after  his  defeat  by  Atlas  was  changed  into  a  sea-god 
(V:  824;  X:  388),  are  mentioned  only  "en  passant."  Of  the 
Palici  in  Sicily,  whom  Varro  counts  among  the  dei  nautici 
(IX:  581),  it  is  related  that. at  first  they  demanded  human 
sacrifices  (humanae  hostiae),  but  later  satisfied  themselves 
with  other  sacrifices  which  were  substituted  in  their  stead. 
(Their  name  is  usually  derived  from  Tta.hv  i'xsir  as  "those 
who  had  returned  from  out  of  the  earth.")  Also  111:275 
may  be  referred  to,  where  allusion  is  made  to  the  old  rite 
of  immolating  a  sailor  to  Apollo  at  the  promontory  of 
Leucata.  Those  surviving  from  shipwreck  paid  their  vows 
to  the  twin-brothers  Castor  and  Pollux.  Servius,  to  be  sure, 
confirms  this  rite  only  regarding  Samothrace,  where  there 
were  two  big  statues  of  Castor  and  Pollux;  still  Castor  and 
Pollux  also  had  a  temple,  at  Ardea  in  Latium  (1:44).— 

The  god  of  the  bakers  is  Pilumnus  who  had  taught  them 
the  grinding  of  corn,  and  after  whom  they  called  the  pestle 
pilum  (IX:  4;  X:76).  All  those  tradesmen  who  used  water 
at  their  work  (qui  artificium  aqiia  exercent  (XII:  139), 
celebrated  the  Juturnalia  in  honor  of  the  fountain  nymph 
Juturna.  — 

The  merchants  worshipped  Mercury,  quod  mercibus  praeest 
(IV:  638),  and  the  physicians  worshipped  Aesculapius,  the 
god  of  medicine,  which  science,  however,  his  father  Apollo 
had  invented  (X:316;  XII :  405).- 

Perhaps  another  rite  concerning  freedmen,  liberti,  might 
be  mentioned.  They  worshipped  the  goddess  Feronia  (VIII : 
564).  In  her  temple,  their  hair  closely  clipped,  they  received 
the  pilleus,  the  token  of  liberty.  Moreover,  in  this  temple 
of  Feronia  at  Tarracina,  the  ancient  Anxur,  there  was  a  stone 
seat  bearing  the  inscription:  "bene  meriti  servi  sedeant, 
surgant  liberi." 


q  

5.)   In   cases   of   death. 

Jupiter  is  not  the  author  of  death,  yet  through  his  power 
he  can  decree  to  mortals  a  blessed  or  base  death  (XII:  851). 
The  corpses  of  those,  who  had  ended  their  life  by  hanging, 
were  cast  away  unburied;  thus  the  libri  pontificates  decreed. 
Cassius  Hemina  says  that  many  of  those,  whom  Tarquinius 
Superbus  had  forced  to  work  at  building  sewers,  had  com- 
mitted suicide  by  hanging  on  account  of  the  disgrace  they 
received.  Thereupon  Tarquinius  is  said  to  have  issued  orders 
that  their  corpses  be  crucified,  and  since  that  time  suicide, 
or  perhaps  rather  this  kind  of  suicide  was  considered  disgrace- 
ful. Varro  adds,  that  at  the  parentalia  the  "little  pictures" 
of  those  who  had  ended  their  life  with  the  rope,  were 
"hanging"  (suspensis  oscillis  parentatur  eis),  in  order  to 
express  what  kind  of  death  they  had  died  (XII:  603).  In 
all  other  cases,  generally  speaking,  all  are  entitled  to  a  proper 
burial,  for  a  proper  burial  means  "peace  for  the  deceased" 
(XI:  106  and  107).  Even  those  who  have  written  about  the 
various  kinds  of  pietas,  agree  in  this  that  at  burials  pietas 
should  have  the  first  place  (VI :  176) .  Those  too,  for  example, 
who  were  slain  in  battle,  were  buried,  of  course,  as  far  as 
it  was  possible  to  do  so  (XI:  372).  It  was  a  general  rule 
to  bring  the  deceased,  wherever  he  may  have  died,  as  soon 
as  possible  into  his  house  and  to  lay  him  out  (V:  64).  Even 
those,  whose  bodies  could  not  be  obtained,  for  example  those, 
who  had  lost  their  life  by  shipwreck  or  the  like,  could  receive 
under  certain  rites  in  absentia  the  iniectio  terrae  (VI:  356)  ; 
or  a  xerordyior,  an  empty  grave  of  honor,  could  be  made 
for  them  (VI:  378),  and  such  a  sepultura  inanis  was  con- 
sidered just  the  same  as  a  sepultura  plena  (VI:  325). — 

After  these  introductory  remarks  we  shall  state  that  which 
pertained  to  a  Roman  funeral  carried  out  rite.  As  soon  as 
death  had  visited  a  house  —  and  there  the  deceased  was  laid 
out  for  seven  days  (V:  64)  — a  twig  of  cypress  was  fastened 
to  the  door.  Cypress  was  used,  first,  because  cypress  xar'  efo- 
X^r  is  the  tree  of  death;  for  a  twig  of  cypress  loses  all  its 
vital  faculty  as  soon  as  it  is  cut  off  (numquam  revirescit, 
renasci  non  solet,  non  repullat)  ;  and  secondly,  in  order  that 
a  priest  might  be  warned  against  entering  the  house,  whereby 
he  would  become  impure,  funestus,  funestatus;  for  anything 
deceased  makes  impure  (III :  64 ;  IV :  507 ;  VI :  216 ;  VI :  8) . 


—  10  — 

Then  came  the  pollinctor  who  washed  the  deceased  and 
rubbed  his  face  with  mealdust,  pollen,  —  whence  his  name  — , 
in  order  that  the  bluish  color  of  death  should  not  be  apparent 
(IX:  485).  The  conclamatio,  the  loud,  lamenting  calling  of 
the  deceased  by  name  began  and,  as  soon  as  another  mourner 
came,  the  lamentation,  which  perhaps  had  ceased  for  a  time, 
was  again  renewed  (XI:  36).  Pliny  in  his  naturalis  historia 
says  that  the  washing  of  the  .body  with  hot  water,  the  con- 
clamatio and  the  fact  that  the  body  was  laid  out  for  seven 
days,  served  the  one  purpose  of  ascertaining  absolute  death, 
for  once,  as  it  is  said,  a  man  became  conscious  on  the  burning 
funeral  pyre  and  had  raised  himself,  but  all  help  for  him 
then  was  too  late  ( VI :  218) .  - 

Funeral  processions  formerly,  i.e.  in  the  ancient  days,  took 
place  with  the  sound  of  trumpets  (ad  tubam  V :  138 ;  XI :  192) 
and  with  torch  lights  (cum  faculis,  ad  faces,  ad  funalia)  and 
very  likely  at  night,  in  order  to  avoid  meeting  a  magistrate 
or  a  priest  on  the  street.  Evening  or  nighttime  also  is 
indicated  by  the  name  of  the  pall  bearers,  vespillones,  in  the 
older  form  vesper  ones  (XI:  142,  143).  Even  funus,  in  its 
original  broader  sense  the  same  as  our  "funeral,"  is  derived 
from  funale;  and  funale  is  a  rope  (funis)  covered  with  wax, 
consequently  a  torch.  ( Compare  also  1 :  727 ) .  Others  again 
derive  funus  from  fungor,  mortui  equal  to  vita  functi. 
Children,  especially  of  public  officials  (magistratus),  were 
borne  out  (efferebantur)  at  night,  in  order  that  the  house 
should  not  be  impure.  Generally,  a  regular  funus  was  not 
necessary  for  children,  because  they  were  still  under  their 
father's  potestas,  and  in  this  respect  they  were  on  the  same 
level  with  the  slaves.  Thus  also  Varro  and  Verrius  Flaccus 
say  that  nobody  was  invited  to  the  funeral  of  a  filius  familias 
(XI:  142,  143).  Later,  the  funeral  procession,  exequiae, 
(dum  corpus  portatur  exequias  dicimus  11:539),  no  doubt, 
took  place  at  day  time,  namely  on  the  eighth  day  after 
death  (V:64).  The  immediate  family,  the  relatives  and 
friends,  dressed  in  mourning,  the  women  also  heavily  veiled 
(11:92,  111:64),  followed,  bearing  olive  branches  in  their 
hands  (XI:  101).  Thus  the  procession  continued  across  the 
forum,  where  the  funeral  oration,  epitaphium,  was  held, 
(XI:  24),  and  then  out  of  the  city;  for  since  the  enactment 
of  the  lex  Duilia  in  449  B.  C.,  nobody  was  allowed  to  be 
interred  in  the  city.  This  law,  however,  did  not  apply  to 


—  11  — 

generals  and  Vestal  virgins ;  in  fact,  for  the  unchaste  Vestal 
virgin  the  campus  sceleratus  in  the  city  was  designated, 
where  she  was  buried  alive  (XI:  206).  The  saying  that  in 
very  ancient  times  the  deceased  was  buried  in  his  own  house 
(V:64;  VI:  152),  Preller  (11:103,  1)  justly,  perhaps  con- 
siders a  conjecture,  wherewith  the  worship  of  the  penates 
and  lares  in  the  house  should  be  explained.  In  ancient  times 
humatio  i.e.  interment  was  in  use  among  the  Romans,  and 
generally  a  piece  of  honey-cake  was  placed  in  the  grave  with 
the  body  (cum  melle  plerumque  obruuntur  VI:  420).  After 
they  had  placed  on  the  tomb  an  offering-meal,  called  sili- 
cernium  V :  92,  for  the  lar,  i.  e.  for  the  spirit  of  the  deceased, 
they  departed  from  the  grave  (tumulus)  calling  vale,  vale, 
vale!  (VI:  231);  cf.  also  1:219;  11:644;  XI:  97).  Later 
cremation  of  corpses  was  introduced  (111:68),  which  was 
simply  called  funus;  for  funus  est  or  dens  or  incensum  cada- 
ver (11:539;  111:62).  From  VI :  224  "per  noctem  autem 
urel)antur,  unde  et  permansit,  ut  mortuos  faces  antecedant" 
the  conclusion  may,  perhaps,  be  drawn  that  at  the  time  of 
Servius  the  Romans  had  returned  to  interment,  probably  upon 
orders  from  the  government;  else  why  the  imperfect  tense 
urebantur  and  above  all  the  perfect  tense  permansit  — 
"whence  has  remained  the  custom"  etc.?  At  the  funeral  of 
a  king  in  ancient  times  horses,  slaves  and  even  his  favorite 
spouse  were  slain  at  the  funeral  pyre  and  burned  with  him 
(V:95),  as  it  was  generally  customary  to  burn  with  the 
deceased,  what  was  dear  to  him  in  life  (X:827).  In  the 
antiquae  disciplinae  the  principle  was  established:  "What 
decorations  and  prizes  one  had  acquired  through  one's 
bravery,  should  adorn  one  also  in  death"  (XI:  80).  Thus, 
for  example,  in  case  the  deceased  was  a  soldier,  according  to 
the  militaris  disciplina  even  his  war-horse  was  led  to  the 
sepulcrum;  for,  says  Pliny,  a  horse  alone  besides  a  man  can 
weep,  feel  and  understand  sorrow.  The  armor  of  the  deceased, 
too,  was  carried  along  "perversa"  (cf.  also  XI :  93)  ;  for 
* '  whatever  was  dear  to  one  in  life,  should  not  be  taken  from 
one  in  death"  (XI:  89).  The  burning  funeral  pyre  —  and 
the  sad  privilege  of  kindling  it  was  in  the  hands  of  closer 
relatives  (VI :  223)  — was,  according  to  Varro,  surrounded  by 
cypress  wood,  in  order  that  the  people  attending  the  funeral 
should  not  be  annoyed  by  the  unpleasant  odor.  For  the 
people  stood  about  and  responded  to  the  lamentation  led  by 


—  12  — 

the  praefica,  and  they  remained  until  the  fire  had  died  out 
and  the  ashes  had  been  collected;  in  fact,  until  they  were 
finally  dismissed  with  the  word  ilicet  (VI :  216) .  Immediately 
preceding  these  verba  novissima  (ilicet  =  ire  licet),  a  puri- 
fication of  all  who  attended  the  funeral  took  place,  consisting 
of  sprinkling  with  water  and  fumigating  with  laurel  and 
sulphur  (IV:  635;  VI:229ss).- 

On  the  ninth  day  the  remains  were  deposited  (cadaver 
crematum  reliquias  dicimus,  conditum  iam  sepulcrum  (II: 
539),  and  an  expiatory  sacrifice  took  place  in  the -family, 
followed  by  a  funeral  repast,  still  on  the  ninth  day,  hence 
called  novendiale.  Games  (ludi  funebres  or  ludi  novendi- 
ales),  which  the  wealthy  celebrated  in  honor  of  their  deceased, 
likewise,  took  place  on  that  day  (V:64).  In  most  cases 
gladiatorial  games  were  celebrated,  which  date  back  to  the 
year  264  B.  C.,  when  many  families  (gentes)  sent  captives 
to  the  funeral  of  Junius  Brutus,  which  captives  his  grandson 
ordered  to  fight  in  pairs  ( III :  67 ) .  The  sentiment,  the  belief 
that  blood  must  flow  at  the  grave,  and  not  only  blood  of  the 
victimae,  but  even  human  blood,  was  deeply  rooted  in  the 
hearts  of  the  Romans.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  ancient  times, 
there  were  human  sacrifices,  for  example,  of  captives,  slaves 
etc.  But  since  human  sacrifices  were  expensive  and  cruel, 
they  began  —  at  least  so  as  to  retain  the  color  of  blood - 
to  place  red  clothes  or  covers  and  red  flowers  on  the  deceased 
(III:  67).  At  another  place  (X:  519)  Servius  says:  "After 
it  had  been  considered  cruel  to  kill  captives  at  the  grave,  it 
seemed  fit  to  have  gladiatores  fight  there,  who  "a  bustis" 
were  called  bustuarii."  Still  elsewhere  (XII:  606)  we  read: 
"When,  perhaps,  there  were  no  captives  or  gladiatores,  rela- 
tives of  the  deceased  lacerated  their  cheeks,  in  order  that 
blood  should  flow."  This,  however,  was  prohibited  by  the 
laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables  in  these  words:  "mulier  faciem 
ne  carpito."  But  with  this  prohibition  it  by  no  means  seems 
to  have  ended,  for  in  V :  78  and  III :  67  Servius  refers  to  it, 
quoting  Varro  in  the  present  tense.  — 

Perhaps  a  word  might  be  said  here  about  the  manes  and 
all  that  is  connected  with  them.  According  to  III :  63  manes 
are  souls  at  that  time,  when  they  have  left  the  human  body 
and  have  not  yet  entered  into  another  body.  Others  call  the 
manes  simply  di  inferi,  quod  ad  inferos  manent  i.  e.  abeant 
IV :  490 ;  still  others  consider  them  to  be  night-deities  in  the 


—  13  — 

space  between  heaven  and  earth,  unde  defluunt,  i.  e.  manant 
(III:  63).  General  explanation  connects  manes  with  the  old 
word  manum  =  bonum.  Thus,  however,  they  are  only  called 
Kara  drriypao'ir,  for  they  are  not  good  (1:139),  but  even 
noxiae  (III :  63).  The  manes  of  Remus,  to  be  sure,  had  caused 
a  pestilentia  (1:276),  and  so  had  those  of  Palinurus  (VI: 
378)  ;  but  to  Renius  and  Palinurus  great  injury  and  injustice 
had  been  done;  no  wonder,  that  their  manes  had  to  be 
pacified  and  reconciled !  Later  the  manes  were  confused  with 
lares  and  larvae  and  lemur es  and -genii.  Servius  (111:302) 
calls  the  manes  piorum  "lares  viales"  and  (VI:  152)  the 
umbrae  "larvas  a  laribus,"  and  in  VI:  743  he  identifies  the 
manes  with  the  genii.  Similar  is  the  theory  of  Apuleius 
(de  deo  Socratis,  chapter  15,  and  given  by  Servius  in  the 
annotations  to  III:  63),  according  to  which  theory  the  manes 
are  animae  melioris  meriti,  called  genii  in  the  body ;  lemures 
are  spirits  in  general,  ghosts  are  called  larvae,  and  the  propi- 
tious and  friendly  ones  are  the  lares  familiares.  Yet  to 
enter  into  such  deep  speculation  or  ito  express  an  opinion 
about  philosophical  theories  —  as,  for  example,  the  purifica- 
tion and  expiation  of  the  soul,  which  is  mentioned  in  VI :  340 
—  lies,  perhaps,  outside  of  the  sphere  of  this  dissertation. 
Servius  himself  is  satisfied  with  a  mere  reference  in  that 
direction. 

II.     In  public  life. 

At  the  beginnig  of  this  second  main  division,  which  treats 
of  the  rites  and  ritual  acts  in  public  life,  there  are  set  forth : 

A.)  The  common  rituals  which  should  be  grouped 
in  connection  with  "sacrificia,  sacra, 
I  udi  and  sacerdotes." 

1.)  8 ar  i  f  icia  . 

By  sacrificium  is  meant  any  voluntary  gift  offered  to  a 
deity,  whereby  one  acknowledges  dependence  and  hopes  to 
render  the  deity  propitious.  Servius  defines  sacrificare  as 
veniam  peter  e — to  seek  mercy  or  favor  (IV:  50).  "To  obtain 
the  aim  connected  with  offering"  the  Roman  expresses  by 
litare;  for  litare  is  sacrificiis  deos  placare  (11:119)  or 
propitiare  et  votum  impetrare  (IV:  50).  — 


—  14  — 

About  unbloody  sacrifices  very  little  indeed  is  found  in 
Servius.  He  mentions  in  VII :  109  that  cakes  of  flour,  honey 
and  oil  are  proper  sacrificial  gifts ;  and  in  II :  116  he  tells  us 
that  the  deities,  when  it  was  difficult  to  obtain  the  proper 
animal  for  sacrifice,  had  to  be  satisfied  with  an  imitation 
made  of  bread  or  wax  (simulata  pro  veris  accipiuntur).  At 
Delos,  furthermore,  and  in  many  other  places,  Servius  says  — 
and  he  expressly  refers  to  Varro  regarding  this  —  were  altars 
of  Apollo,  on  which  no  victims  were  slain;  the  god  was 
worshipped  only  by  prayer.  When,  therefore,  later  a  bull 
was  sacrificed  to  Apollo  (and  Neptune),  it  was  undoubtedly 
done  at  altars  elsewhere.  Nor  did  the  goddess  of  Love  and 
Beauty  demand  bloody  sacrifices ;  for  according  to  1 :  335 
sacrifices  to  Venus  Paphia  consisted  only  of  frankincense  and 
flowers.  Of  the  libatio  at  daily  meals  and  of  purgatory  and 
expiatory  sacrifices  at  funerals,  which,  of  course,  must  be 
numbered  among  unbloody  sacrifices,  mention  has  been  made 
before  (Part  I:  2  and*5). 

Under  the  head  of  bloody  sacrifices  we  cannot  entirely  pass 
over  human  sacrifices.  A  comparison  also  may  be  made  with 
what  has  already  been  stated  (Part  1:4)  under  Palici  and 
(Part  1:5)  under  gladiatorial  games.  The  devotio,  self- 
sacrifice,  whereby  a  man  dedicates  himself,  for  the  state's 
welfare,  to  the  inferi  or  delivers  up  another  to  them  by  curses, 
does  not  come  under  this  topic;  and  the  one  special  case, 
which  Servius  III :  57  mentions,  has,  as  Wissowa  pg.  322,  7, 
remarks  quite  correctly,  nothing  to  do  with  the  old  Eoman 
'devotio'.  According  to  the  story  which  Servius  (111:57) 
mentions,  a  poor  man  at  the  time  of  the  pestilence  in  Massilia 
had  declared  himself  ready  to  take  upon  himself  the  blame 
of  the  whole  state  and  to  give  up  his  life  for  it,  after  they 
should  have  supported  him  for  one  year  splendidly  and  from 
public  funds.  The  so-called  ver  sacrum,  a  sacrifice  vowed  in 
times  of  great  need,  consisting  of  all  living  things  that  should 
be  born  the  following  spring,  originally  the  firstlings  of  both 
men  and  cattle,  but  afterwards  of  cattle  alone,  since  the 
children  were  sent  as  sacri  across  the  boundary,  as  soon  as 
they  had  grown  to  manhood  (VII:  796),  may  also  be  men- 
tioned. Especially  cruel  were  the  rites  of  Diana  at  Aricia, 
where  a  fugitive  slave,  after  breaking  off  a  twig  from  the 
forbidden  tree  in  the  grove,  by  a  bloody  duel  with  him  who 
occupied  the  position  at  that  time,  could  become  rex  nemo- 


—  15  — 

rensis  in  his  stead  (VI:  136)  ;  and  even  though  Servius  in 
connection  with  this  (II:  116)  says  quamquam  servi  immola- 
rentur,  slaves  are  also  human  beings.  — 

Let  us  now  pass  on  to  the  animal  offerings.  By  hostiae,  as 
the  name  implies,  originally  are  understood  animals,  which 
were  sacrificed  at  an  expedition  against  the  foe ;  by  victimae 
are  understood  those  that  were  sacrificed  after  victory  was 
gained  (1:334).  Later,  however,  no  such  exact  lines  of 
distinction  were  drawn.  In  II :  156  Servius  even  derives 
hostiae  from  hostire  —  to  reconcile,  propitiate.  A  hostia, 
which  on  the  way  to  the  altar  succeeded  in  freeing  itself  and 
escaping,  was  called  effugia,  and  the  animal  substituted  for 
it  was  called  succidanea.  If  the  animal  had  been  pregnant, 
it  was  called  for  da,  and  if  barren,  taurea  (II:  140).  In  con- 
trast to  hostiae  animates,  in  which  taking  the  life  —  anima  — 
of  the  animals  was  the  primary  purpose,  they  called  such 
animals,  by  which  through  inspection  of  their  entrails  — 
exta  —  the  will  of  the  deity  was  to  be  revealed,  hostiae  con- 
sultatoriae  (II :  119  ;  III :  231 ;  IV  :  56  ;  V :  483) .  - 

The  proper  victim  for  Apollo  and  Neptune  was  a  bull, 
taurus  (11:202;  111:118),  the  same  also  for  Hercules 
(VIII:  183).  The  victim  for  Jupiter,  however,  was  not  a 
taurus,  (III :  21),  but  a  young  bullock,  iuvencus,  not  consider- 
ing the  so-called  suovetaurilia  (sus-ovis-taurus) ,  because 
there,  besides  Jupiter,  other  gods  also  were  taken  into  con- 
sideration (IX:  624).  A  sow,  sus  (VIII:  43),  was  sacrificed 
to  Juno,  a  young  pig,  porcus,  to  Ceres  (III:  118),  a  he-goat, 
hircus,  to  Liber  (111:118)  ;  to  Faunus  or  Pan,  likewise,  a 
he-goat,  caper,  was  sacrificed  (VIII:  343),  because  these 
animals  were  hostile  to  these  deities  and  consequently  hated 
by  them.  To  Proserpina  a  barren  cow  (vacca  sterilis  VI :  251) 
was  sacrificed,  because  Proserpina  herself  had  never  given 
birth.  At  an  ovatio,  they  sacrificed  sheep,  oves,  but  at  a 
triumphus,  bulls,  tauri  (IV:  543)  were  sacrificed.  For  the 
celestial  gods,  superi,  white  animals  were  preferred,  for  the 
gods  of  the  lower  world,  inferi,  black  or  dark  ones  were  used 
(111:118).- 

The  qualities  of  victims,  too,  were  well  considered.  Bullsv 
for  example,  had  to  be  intacti,  i.  e.  they  were  not  permitted 
to  have  been  under  the  yoke,  beasts  of  burden ;  sheep  should 
not  have  the  tail  full  of  thorns,  nor  a  black  tongue  nor  their 
ears  split,  and  by  all  means  had  to  have  the  two  projecting 


—  16  — 

teeth,  which  usually  appear  in  the  second  year;  hence  called 
bidentes  =  biennes  (VI:  38,  39;  IV:  57).  At  all  sacrifices 
the  female  victim  was  preferred  to  the  male.  If,  in  sacrific- 
ing a  male  victim,  no  success  (litatio)  was  obtained,  then  a 
female  succidanea  was  tried.  If  that,  too,  failed,  no  second 
succidanea  could  be  substituted  (VIII:  641).— 

Sacrifices  to  all  gods  were  made  with  covered  heads,  so 
that  nothing  should  distract  their  devotion.  In  sacrificing 
to  Saturn  and  Hercules,  however,  they  did  not  cover  their 
heads,  because  both  these  gods  were  represented  with  their 
head  covered  and  imitation  should  be  avoided  (111:407; 
VIII :  288).  When  offering  to  Fides,  even  the  right  arm  was 
covered  with  a  white  band,  to  show,  that  faithfulness  must  be 
kept  and  preserved  conscientiously  (1:292).  To  Terminus 
they  sacrificed  only  under  the  open  sky,  sub  divo.  Even 
over  his  sacred  stone  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  at  the  capi- 
tolium  there  was  a  place  in  the  roof,  which  was  uncovered  and 
free ;  and  in  this  temple  which  was  built  by  Tarquinius,  they 
had  to  include  the  stone  of  Terminus  without  moving  it, 
because  Terminus  simply  refused  to  yield,  while  the  other 
gods  whose  sacella  were  likewise  in  the  way,  willingly  followed 
the  evocatio  (IX:  446).  Parsimony  at  the  sacrifices  was  a 
duty  in  those  good  old  days,  when  parsimony  was  still  a 
virtue  (VIII:  105).  The  altars  were  covered  with  green  turf, 
caespites,  especially  when  sacrifices  were  made  to  Mars ;  for 
turf  was  sacred  to  Mars,  because,  as  Pliny  says  in  his  naturalis 
historia  (XII :  119),  it  springs  from  human  blood.  — 

All  rites  pertaining  to  a  sacrifice  had  to  be  observed  with 
painful  exactness,  to  avoid  a  piaculum,  i.  e.  a  transgression, 
sin,  whereby  a  piaculum,  i.  e.  expiatory  sacrifice,  or  at  least 
a  repetition  of  the  entire  rite  would  be  necessary.  It  was 
considered  a  piaculum  to  choose  the  wrong,  victim  for  a  deity, 
for  example,  to  sacrifice  a  taurus  to  Jupiter  (111:279).  It 
was  a  piaculum,  if  anything  at  the  sacrifice  was  bound ;  there- 
fore the  victim  itself  was  not  bound  in  such  a  way  that  it  could 
not  free  itself,  or  it  was  led  entirely  free  and  without  fetters 
(II:  134;  IV:  518).  It  was  a  piaculum  not  to  slay  an  effugia 
(II :  104),  wherever  it  might  be  found.  It  was  a  piaculum  to 
interrupt  a  rite  or  a  ritual  act.  How  delighted  were  the 
Romans,  for  example,  when,  being  called  away  from  the  ludi 
circenses  into  battle  against  Hannibal,  on  their  return  they 
still  found  an  old  man  dancing  in  the  circus,  who  could  assure 


them  that  no  interruption  had  taken  place !  Hence  the 
proverb:  " Salva  est  res,  saltat  senex"  (VIII:  110)  or 
"Omnia  secunda,  saltat  senex"  (111:279).  In  short,  the 
least  transgression  against  that  which  was  prescribed  for 
a  rite  (IV:  646),  was  a  piaculum.  — 

Sacrificia  indictiva  were  those  for  which  the  date  always 
had  to  be  set,  or  which  were  announced  for  special  occasions 
(1:632).  The  sacrificia  anniversaria  or  sollemnia,  i.e.  the 
fixed  and  regular  annual  sacrifices  could  not  be  postponed, 
because  they  could  not  be  repeated;  the  kalendaria,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  sacrifices  which  occurred  monthly  and  could 
be  repeated.  A  postponement,  if  necessary,  or  temporary  omis- 
sion of  these  was  not  considered  a  piaculum  ( VIII:  173).— 

And  now  that  we  are  about  to  describe  briefly  a  public 
sacrifice  of  the  Romans,  it  must  be  expressly  understood,  that 
this  description  cannot  be  complete  in  all  its  details,  because 
we  must  adhere  to  what  Servius  says  about  it;  yet  the  main 
points  of  it,  to  be  sure,  will  be  apparent.  The  solemn  proces- 
sion advances  to  the  place  of  sacrifice.  The  victims  are 
adorned  with  ribbons  and  garlands  (11:133),  the  horns  of 
the  cattle  are  even  gilded  (IX:  624).  Alongside  the  altar  the 
indispensable  hearth  is  placed,  for  without  a  focus  no  private 
or  public  sacrifice  is  permitted  (111:134).  The  herald, 
praecOy  demanding  attention,  says:  "Favete  linguis,  favete 
vocibus,"  i.  e.  "Hush,  or  let  only  auspicious  words  be  spoken" 
(V:71;  VIII:  173).  When  praying  they  touch  the  altar, 
otherwise  the  sacrifice  is  not  acceptable  to  the  gods  (IV:  219). 
He  who  sacrifices,  be  he  the  pontifex  or  a  magistratus,  in  the 
cinctus  Gabinus,  i.  e.  the  toga  rolled  up  in  a  peculiar  fashion 
and  drawn  over  the  head  (V:755;  VII:  612),  pours  water 
and  wine  upon  the  forehead  of  the  victim,  in  order  to  test 
it  thereby.  If  it  is  frightened  and  shudders,  it  is  not  fit  for 
sacrifice  (VI:  244).  Besides  wine  he  also  uses  frankincense, 
with  these  words:  "mactus  est  taurns  vino  vel  ture" 
(IX:  641);  hence  the  word  mactare  =  magis  augere.  Then 
he  sprinkles  over  the  victim,  the  hearth  and  the  offering-knife 
horna  mola  salsa,  i.  e.  flour-mixed  salt,  hence  immolatio, 
immolare  (11:133;  IV:  57;  X:541)  ;  furthermore,  he  makes 
a  certain  gesture  with  the  offering-knife  along  the  back  of 
the  animal,  from  head  to  tail  (XII:  173)  and  delivers  the 
victim  to  the  attendant,  who  kills  it;  cultrum  supponere  is 
the  euphemistic  expression  (VI:  248).  When  the  exta,  i.e. 


— 18  — 

heart,  liver,  lungs  etc.,  after  a  thorough  investigation,  are 
found  to  be  acceptable,  they  are  carefully  prepared  and 
offered  to  the  gods.  The  rest  of  the  animal,  the  roasted  meat, 
simply  called  viscera  (1 :  211 ;  VI :  253) ,  belongs  to  the  priests, 
who  then  close  the  solemn  act  with  a  feast  (111:231).— 
At  private  sacrifices  the  meat  belongs  to  those  who  make  the 
sacrifice  and  to  their  friends.  Formerly  after  the  sacrifice  at 
the  ara  maxima  of  Hercules  a  so-called  visceratio,  i.  e.  a  public 
distribution  of  meat  to  the  people,  was  made,  at  which  nothing 
of  the  bull  should  be  left  over  (VIII :  183) .  At  the  same  place 
Servius  says  (in  contradiction  to  the  statement  just  made?) 
that  the  meat  of  the  victim  was  sold  there  at  a  high  price,  and 
that  for  the  money  obtained  in  this  way  another  victim  was 
bought  etc.;  Wissowa  (pg.  226,  7)  calls  this  an  "invention, 
made  to  explain  Vergil's  words  perpetui  tergo  bovis." 
Servius  also  mentions  (VI:  253)  the  so-called  holocaustum, 
a  sacrifice  at  which  the  entire  animal  was  burned;  Wissowa 
(pg.  352,  6)  maintains  that  such  a  sacrifice  was  unknown  to 
the  old  Roman  rite.  So  much  may  be  said  about  sacrificia, 
in  which,  of  course,  sacra  are  included,  as  far  as  they  coincide 
wholly  or  nearly  so  with  sacrificia. 

2.)  Sacra. 

In  the  sense  of  mysteries,  secret  worship,  the  following 
sacra  may  be  mentioned.  First,  there  are  the  sacra  Liberi, 
which  were  renewed  every  third  year,  and  at  which  unbridled 
and  wild  and,  in  fact,  immoral  orgies  were  the  order  of  the 
day  (IV:  302;  X:41).  But  one  must  not  confuse  the 
Bacchanalia  which  were  later  forbidden  by  law,  with  those 
harmless  festivals  at  the  time  of  vintage.  Then,  there  were 
the  sacra  Junonis,  i.  e.  Junonis  Caelestis,  who  during  the 
second  Punic  war  had  been  solemnly  entreated  to  leave 
(exorata)  and  who  at  the  time  of  the  third  Punic  war  was 
transferred  by  Scipio  from  Carthage  to  Rome,  together  with 
her  obscene  worship  (XII:  841).  Furthermore,  there  were 
the  sacra  Hecates,  which  were  celebrated  in  the  darkness  of 
night  at  triple  cross-roads,  and  at  which  worship  the  roaring 
of  thunder  was  imitated  (IV :  510 ;  IV :  609) .  Then  there  were 
the  sacra  matris  deum,  of  the  Phrygian  Cybele,  also  called 
Berecynthia,  which  were  celebrated  by  frantic  dances  and 
under  deafening  tunes  of  music.  The  priest  and  worshippers 
of  Cybele,  called  Archigalli,  even  severed  their  private  parts 


—  19  — 

(VI:  784;  XII:  836;  IX:  115).  Finally,  the  sacra  Isidis,  at 
which  sprinkling  with  water  of  the  Nile  was  prescribed 
(11:116)  and  lamentation  over  Osiris,  the  husband  of  Isis, 
was  raised;  Osiris,  according  to  tradition,  had  been  cut  to 
pieces  by  his  brother  Typhon  (IV:  609).  At  the  time  of 
Augustus  these  Aegyptia  sacra  did  not  yet  exist  in  Rome, 
most  likely  on  account  of  Cleopatra  who  wished  to  be  identified 
with  Isis  (VIII:  696,  698).- 

At  the  sacra  gentilicia  the  expenses,  of  course,  were  paid  by 
the  gens  which  was  concerned  in  it ;  yet  there  are  some  gentes 
which  enjoyed  a  special  position,  one,  we  should  say  of 
preference,  since  the  state  had  taken  the  expenses  on  itself, 
but  had  made  the  public  priesthood  even  hereditary  for  them. 
Servius  mentions  at  least  three  of  these  sacra  gentilicia 
publica.  The  Potitii  and  Pinarii  to  whose  ancestors  the  god 
himself  is  said  to  have  shown,  how  they  should  sacrifice  to 
him  in  the  morning  and  at  night,  had  the  worship  of  Hercules 
at  the  ara  .maxima,  the  Potitii  occupying  the  presidency  and 
holding  the  priestly  privileges,  and  the  Pinarii  attending  to 
the  work.  Thus  Hercules  himself  had  decreed,  because 
Pinarius  had  not  arrived  early  enough  at  the  time  when  the 
sacra  were  instituted.  Lateron,  though  no  slaves  or  freed- 
men  (VIII:  179)  were  admitted  to  the  sacra  of  Hercules,  in 
fact  no  "strangers"  to  any  sacra  (VIII:  172),  the  Potitii, 
whom  Appius  Claudius  had  bribed  with  money,  were  per- 
suaded to  instruct  public  slaves  in  the  worship  of  Hercules; 
the  consequence  was  that  Appius  Claudius  became  blind,  the 
gens  Potitia  died  out  entirely  within  a  year  and  the  state 
itself  took  over  these  sacra  and  attended  to  them  through  the 
Praetor  urbanus,  with  the  aid  of  public  slaves  (VIII :  269, 
270,  271,  276).  The  gens  Nautia  had  the  worship  of  Minerva, 
because  through  their  ancestor,  according  to  tradition,  the 
palladium  of  the  Trojan  Pallas  (Minerva)  had  come  to  Rome. 
Diomedes  who  together  with  Ulixes  had  stolen  it,  moved  by 
remorse,  desired  to  return  it  to  Aeneas,  but  since  he  had  found 
Aeneas  sacrificing,  with  his  head  averted,  Nautes  had  taken  it 
into  his  care.  Servius  mentions  still  other  traditions  regard- 
ing the  palladium  Minervae,  —  some  speak  of  two,  some  even 
of  many  palladia  —  yet  we  cannot  dwell  too  long  on  this  point 
(11:166;  111:407;  V:704).  The  gens  Julia  "retinebat," 
i.e.  had  and 'retained  for  itself  the  sacra  Apollinis,  because 
the  first  of  the  family  of  the  Caesars  was  born  exsecto  or 


—  20  — 

caeso  matris  venire,  just  as  Aesculapius,  the  son  of  Apollo; 
and  all  such  were  consecrated  to  Apollo  (VII:  761;  X:  316). 

3.)  L  u  di  . 

The  ludi  also,  i.  e.  games  of  the  Romans,  cannot  be  passed 
over  entirely,  and  even  if  personal  pleasure  at  these  games 
was  the  most  important  factor,  yet  they  were  celebrated  in 
honor  of  various  deities ;  in  fact,  in  III :  279  Servius  says  that 
games  were  celebrated  when  a  piaculum  had  been  committed. 
At  the  games  all  those  present,  children  and  adults  (omnis 
aetas  V:  71)  were  adorned  with  garlands.    The  Consualia  had 
been  instituted  by  Romulus  in  honor  of  Census,  the  god  of 
counsel,  even  at  the  time  of  the  rape  of  the  Sabine  virgins 
i.  e.  in  the  month  of  March.    Since  Census  was  identical  with 
Neptunus  Eques,  these  games  were  also  simply  called  cir- 
censes.  The  name,  circenses,  is  derived  from  circuitus  or  from 
circa  enses;  "for  where  now  are  obelisks,  at  one  time  there 
were  placed  two  swords  (enses),  around  which  the  chariot- 
racers  had  to  drive."     On  account  of  the  small  number  of 
horses  at  that  time  any  other  kind  of  animals  was  used  at  the 
chariot-races  (VIII:  636).     The  ludi  Apollinares  were  insti- 
tuted in  the  second  Punic  war  or  at  the  time  of  Sulla,  in 
consequence  of  an  oracle  of  the  Marcii  fratres  ( VI :  70) .  Other 
ludi  Apollinares,  the  so-called  ludi  Actiaci,  were  instituted 
by  Augustus  after  his  victory  over  Antonius;  but  they  were 
celebrated  at  Nicopolis  opposite  Actium   (111:274).      They 
were  also  called  agonales  (111:280).     Ludi  theatrales  were 
celebrated  in  the  very  earliest  times  in  honor  of  Liber  pater 
only  (XI:  737).    Ludi  Compitalicii,  i.e.  festivals  of  the  lares 
(VIII:  717)   are  merely  mentioned.     The  ludi  functor  es  have 
been    spoken    of    previously.     At    the    ludi   funetores   which 
Augustus  gave  for  his  father  Caesar,  a  bright  star  appeared 
in  the  northern  sky  for  three  days,  and  the  people  came  to 
the  belief  that  Caesar  was  raised  among  the  celestial  gods 
(VI:  790;  VIII:  681;  1:286).     Very  little  is  known  about 
the  ludi  Taurei  which  undoubtedly  were  vowed  to  and  cele- 
brated in  honor  of  the  gods  of  the  lower  world.    Servius  says 
that,  according  to  the  libri  fatales,  they  were  instituted  by 
Tarquinius    Superbus,    quod    omnis   partus    mulierum    male 
cedebat,  i.  e.  because  the  women  could  not  give  birth,  and, 
therefore,  were  taureae.     According  to  other  traditions  the 
ludi  Taurei  were  established  by  the  Sabines  at  the  time  of 


—  21  — 

a  pestilence,  in  order  that  the  epidemic  should  pass  to  the 
hostiae  taureae,  the  barren    (11:140). 

4.)   Sacerdotcs. 

A  sacerdos  is  forbidden  to  enter  a  house  of  mourning  before 
the  fifth  day  after  a  burial  (1:329).  Only  a  sacerdos  is 
allowed  to  enter  (II :  115)  the  innermost  and  holiest  part  of  a 
temple  (adytum]  and,  according  to  11:404  only  a  religious 
sacerdos.  Only  a  sacerdos  is  permitted  to  see  the  penates 
Aeneae  (III :  12).  Priests  were  exempt  from  military  service 
(VII:  442).  Their  official  dress  was  a  white  robe  (X:  539), 
which,  of  course,  for  different  priests  was  different  by  design. 
About  this  as  well  as  about  the  headdress  of  the  priests 
(II:  683),  more  will  be  said  elsewhere.  The  sacrificial  robe, 
however,  at  all  times  had  to  be  pura,  not  only  externally,  but 
also  especially  in  the  religious  sense,  i.  e.  inpolluta  (XII :  169) . 

At  length  we  shall  now  speak  about 

B.)  the  special  ritual  acts  of  those  who 
were  authorized  to  perform  them  by  virtue 
of  their  official  position. 

The  following  are  mentioned  by  Servius: 

1.)   The   Pontifices   and    the  Pontifex  M  a  xi- 
m  u  s. 

They  had  been  instituted  by  Numa  and  had  their  name, 
as  also  the  songs  'of  the  Salii  tell  (11:166),  from  the 
wooden  bridge  (pons  subUcius),  which  they  had  built  across 
the  Tiber,  that  they  might  do  their  duty  on  both  banks  of  the 
river.  There  were  Pontifices  not  only  at  Rome,  but  also  at 
Praeneste  (VII:  678).  They  had  charge  of  the  entire  Roman 
religion  and  especially  of  rites  and  ritual  acts  and  it  was 
their  duty  to  see  that  these  were  carried  out  in  the  prescribed 
manner  —  rite  —  and  at  the  proper  time,  and  that  they  by 
no  means  should  be  neglected  (111:104;  XII:  192).  The 
ius  pontificum  prohibited  the  calling  of  the  Roman  deities  at 
public  prayer  by  their  own  names.  Hence  the  Pontifices 
invoked  the  gods  with  the  quite  general  addition:  "Whoso- 
ever you  are,  or  by  whatever  name  you  desire  to  be  invoked. ' ' 
On  the  capitolium  was  a  shield,  a  sacred  shield,  with  the 
inscription :  "To  the  Genius  of  the  city  of  Rome,  whether  he 
be  male  or  female,"  a  proof  that  the  Romans  wished  to  con- 


—  22  — 

ceal,  under  which  deity's  protection  their  city  was  (II:  351). 
Not  even  the  "true"  name  of  the  city  could  be  pronounced 
at  the  sacra.  Valerius  Soranus,  the  tribunus  plebei,  according 
to  Varro  and  others,  did  this  once  and  had  to  give  up  his  life 
for  it  (I:  277).  In  fact,  the  ritual  demanded  that,  to  what- 
ever deity  one  sacrificed  or  prayed,  after  that  deity  the  other 
gods  in  general  should  be  invoked  (VIII:  103),  especially 
Janus  and  Vesta  (1 :  292).  Why  then  this  generalization  and 
why  this  secrecy?  Because  the  Romans  reasoned  quite 
correctly  that  even  a  public  worship  for  a  special  deity  really 
concerned  all  the  gods  in  corpore,  and  because  they  did  not 
wish  to  incur  the  enmity  of  any  one;  then,  too,  fearing  that 
their  own  rite  of  evocatio,  i.  e.  the  solemn  act  of  calling  out 
the  deities  of  a  besieged  city  and  offering  them  new  domiciles 
at  Rome,  might  be  imitated  by  the  enemy  and  thus  be  used 
as  a  weapon  against  themselves.  About  the  so-called  indigi- 
i amenta  (from  the  old  word  indigeto  =  precor  or  invoco 
XII:  794),  i.e.  certain  prayers  for  certain  deities,  which 
prayers  were  prescribed  by  the  Pontifices  in  their  litany, 
Servius  has  very  little  that  is  worth  mentioning,  unless  one 
desires  to  call  attention  to  the  following  correct  invocations, 
for  Jupiter:  "Jupiter  optime  maxime"  (11:351),  or  for 
Tiberinus:  "Adesto,  Tiberine,  cum  tuis  undis"  (VIII:  72). 
Although  at  public  invocations  the  way  of  expression  was 
very  important,  still  we  search  in  vain  for  an  instance  in 
Servius,  which  would  show  that  the  Pontifices  dictated  word 
for  word  to  those  sacrificing,  as,  for  example,  to  the  Censores, 
who  then  would  repeat  these  words  exactly.  We  find,  how- 
ever, that  the  Pontifex  took  part  in  the  lustrum  inasmuch  as 
he  (or  the  Censor)  received  with  his  hands  the  lustralia,  in 
order  to  place  them  upon  the  altar  (VIII :  183)  .— 

It  was  a  nefas  for  a  Pontifex  to  see  a  deceased,  a  still  greater 
nefas,  however,  to  leave  him  unburied  or  to  deny  him  the 
iniectio  pulveris  (VI :  176) .  The  so-called  agnoscere  funus,  i.  e. 
to  receive  news  of  a  death  (in  the  family)  and  to  lament,  to 
grieve  over  it,  likewise,  made  him  impure  and  therefore  unfit 
for  a  public  sacrifice.  But  when  a  Pontifex  who  is  just  about 
to  begin  a  sacred  offering,  is  notified  of  a  death,  what  then? 
In  such  a  case  the  precedent  of  Horatius  Pulvius  (509  B.  C.) 
is  observed,  to  whom  during  his  prayer  his  enemies,  in  order 
to  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  proceed  with  the  consecration 
of  the  temple  at  the  Capitol,  reported  the  death  of  his  son, 


—  23  — 

but  he  did  not  permit  himself  to  be  disturbed,  simply  said 
"cadaver  sit,"  and  finished  the  act  of  consecration,  before  he 
acknowledged  his  son's  death  (VI :  8  ;  XI :  2) .  — 

In  times  of  drought  the  Pontifices  dragged  the  so-called 
lapis  manalis  through  the  city  at  the  votive  procession  of  the 
aquaelicium  (111:175).  Finally,  the  Pontifices  were  not 
allowed  to  swear  "per  liber os,"  but  only  "per  deos" 

(IX:  298).- 

The  Pontifex  Maximus,  the  president  of  the  council  and  in 
general  the  executive  of  resolutions,  hence  often  simply  called 
Pontifex,  had  to  take  special  care  of  the  annales,  i.  e.  he  had 
to  record  accurately  for  every  day  of  the  year  the  most  im- 
portant occurrences  both  at  home  and  abroad,  on  land  and 
at  sea,  giving  both  the  names  of  the  consuls  and  of  other 
magistrates.  Later  there  were  eighty  books  of  these  annales 
maximi  (1 :  373).  The  official  residence  of  the  Pontifex  Maxi- 
mus was  the  old  Regia  (VIII:  363). 

2.)     The  Rex    S  acr  o  r  um   and    the    R  e  g  in  a  . 

These  were  instituted  immediately  after  the  expulsion  of  the 
kings.  The  Rex  Sacrorum,  likewise  called  Rex  Sacrificus  or 
Sacrificulus,  took  care  of  all  those  sacra,  which  formerly  had 
been  in  the  hands  of  the  kings.  In  rank  the  Rex  Sacrorum 
was  above  all  (11:2),  but  in  relation  to  service  he  was  sub- 
ordinate to  the  Pontifex  Maximus.  At  the  curia  Galabra  he 
had  to  announce  every  month  in  the  presence  of  the  people 
who  were  called  together  (calare  =  vocare]  the  Kalendae 
and  the  Idus,  in  order  that  they  should  know  on  what  day 
they  were,  and  that  they  should,  furthermore,  know  before- 
hand the  days  for  games  and  sacrifices ;  for  a  calendar,  fasti, 
was  not  then  known  (VIII:  654).  This  is  all  that  Servius 
relates  about  the  duties  of  the  Rex  Sacrorum.  — 

Concerning  the  wife  of  the  Rex  Sacrorum,  who  was  called 
Regina  Sacrorum,  only  this  much  is  mentioned,  that  at  certain 
ritual  acts  she  wore  an  arculum  on  her  head,  i.  e.  a  twig  of 
pomegranate-tree  (malus  Punica),  which  was  wound  into  a 
garland  and  was  tied  together  at  both  ends  with  a  white 
woolen  thread  (IV:  137).  Servius  does  not  go  into  details 
concerning  sacrifices  which  the  Regina  had  to  offer  as  well  as 
the  Rex  Sacrorum. 


—  24  — 

3.)     The    F  lamin  es  ;    especially    the    F  lam e  n 
D  i  ali  s    and      the     Flaminica. 

Thus  were  called  at  Rome  the  priests  of  some  particular 
deity.  The  Flamines  are  divided  into  two  classes,  Flamines 
maiores  and  Flamines  minores.  The  Flamines  maiores  were 
three  in  number,  namely,  Flamen  Dialis,  Flamen  Martialis, 
Flamen  Quirinalis,  who  dated  back  to  Numa.  The  Flamines 
minores,  twelve  in  number,  were  instituted  in  later  times.  The 
latter  Servius  does  not  mention  at  all,  and  when  he  means  the 
Flamen  Martialis  or  Quirinalis,  he  adds  the  explanatory  ad- 
jective. In  all  other  cases,  especially  when  he  speaks  of 
Flamen  in  the  singular,  the  Flamen  Dialis  is  meant,  who  is  the 
most  important  of  all.  If  beside  Flamen  also  Flaminica  is 
mentioned,  then  the  reference  always  refers  to  the  Flamen 
Dialis;  for  only  his  wife  had  that  name.  — 

The  Flamen  Dialis  and  the  Flaminica,  whose  official 
residence  was  the  Flaminia  (II :  57  ;  VIII :  363) ,  could  only 
marry  under  the  old  rules  of  the  confarreatio  (cf.  Part  1:1) 
and  had  to  be  descendants  of  such  a  marriage  (IV:  103,  339). 
At  the  wedding,  with  their  heads  covered,  they  sat  on  chairs, 
over  which  was  spread  the  fleece  of  the  sheep  that  had  been 
sacrificed  (IV:  374).  Their  marriage  could  not  be  dissolved, 
unless  through  death.  This  is,  perhaps,  what  Servius  means 
when  he  says  that  she  was  only  allowed  to  have  one  husband 
and  he  only  one  wife;  yet  the  Flamen  Dialis  could  marry 
again  after  the  death  of  the  Flaminica  (IV:  29).  Whether 
he,  however,  had  to  resign  his  office  as  soon  as  his  wife  had 
died,  Servius  does  not  mention.  — 

At  the  sacrifices  (the  Flamen  Dialis  had  to  sacrifice  daily, 
VIII:  552)  the  Flamen  Dialis  and  the  Flaminica  used  the 
so-called  secespita,  an  oblong  knife  of  iron  with  a  round 
handle  of  massive  ivory,  decorated  with  silver  and  gold  and 
fastened  with  brass  nails  (IV:  262).  The  boys  and  girls  who 
assisted  the  Flamen  Dialis  and  the  Flaminica  at  the  ritual 
acts  were  called  Camilli  and  Camillae.  But  they  had  to  be 
children  of  free-born  parents  (XI:  543,  558).- 

As  a  covering  for  the  head  the  Flamines  wore  the  pilleum, 
i.  e.  a  conical  fur  cap,  to  which  as  apex  a  small  rod  topped 
with  something  woolen  was  attached.  The  word  apex  (from 
apere  =  religare)  was  often  used  to  signify  the  entire  cover- 
ing for  the  head.  The  name  Flamines  =  filamines  is  said  to 


—  25  — 

be  derived  from  filum,  the  woolen  thread  whereby  the  apex 
was  fastened  to  the  pilleum;  or,  perhaps,  from  filum,  i.  e. 
ribbon  of  wool,  which  the  Flamines  wore  around  the  fore- 
head, when  it  was  very  hot  or  when  they  were  perchance  at 
leisure;  for  entirely  bareheaded  a  Flamen  should  never  be, 
especially  a  Flamen  Dialis  (cf.  also  1 :  305).  At  Laurolavini- 
um  they  wore  an  especially  long  virga  on  their  pilleum,  in 
order  to  keep  away  thereby  the  birds  which  were  eager  to 
steal  from  the  meat  of  the  sacrifice  (11:683;  VIII:  664; 
X:  270).  The  dress  of  the  Flamen  Dialis  was  the  praetexta, 
the  purple-broidered  toga,  of  double  wool,  hence  also  called 
laena,  which  had  to  be  woven  by  the  Flaminica  herself  ( IV : 
262).  Hence  when  Servius  (VII:  190)  attributes  the  trabea, 
the  purple-striped  official  attire,  to  the  augures  and  also  to 
the  Flamen  Dialis  and  Flamen  Martialis,  this,  perhaps,  may 
not  be  quite  correct  in  regard  to  the  Flamen  Dialis,  at  least 
not  in  earlier  times.  The  Flaminica  wore  a  purple  dress, 
which  was  fastened  by  the  fibula,  a  buckle.  Her  head-cover- 
ing, the  rica,  a  certain  kind  of  veil,  was  likewise  purple;  at 
every  sacrifice,  however,  she  had  to  wear  as  head-gear  the 
arculum,  which  we  have  already  described  in  connection  with 
the  Regina  Sacrorum  ( IV :  137 ) .  — 

Flamen  Dialis  and  Flaminica,  moreover,  in  spite  of  all  their 
privileges  were  also  subjected  to  many  restrictions,  through 
which  in  the  end  their  purity  and  holiness  should  be  extolled 
only  the  more.  The  Flaminica  was  allowed  to  wear  neither 
shoes  nor  sandals  of  the  leather  of  an  animal  which  had  died  a 
natural  death  (morticina)  ;  she  was  never  allowed  to  gird 
herself  above  the  knees  (IV:  518)  nor  to  ascend  any  stairs 
higher  than  three  steps,  except  if  they  were  the  so-called 
Greek  stairs,  of  which  the  boards  were  fastened  together  in 
such  a  way,  that  there  was  no  opening  (IV:  646).  The  Fla- 
men Dialis  was  not  permitted  to  touch  leaven  (farina 
fermentata)  (1: 179).  Neither  his  beard  nor  his  hair  was  to 
be  cut  with  anything  else  but  a  brass  knife  (1:448).  No 
empty  table  was  allowed  to  be  placed  before  him  (1 :  707),  that 
means,  perhaps,  that  all  food  and  drink  for  him  had  to  be 
on  the  table  when  it  was  set  before  him.  He  was  allowed  to 
touch  only  one  deceased  (XI:76),  nor  was  he  allowed  to  ride 
on  horse-back  etc.  Servius,  it  is  true,  says  in  VIII :  552, 
pontificibus  non  licet  equo  vehi,  but  he  evidently  confuses 
pontifices  with  Flamen  Dialis.  For  the  Flamen  Martialis 


—  26  — 

and  the  Flamen  Quirinalis  the  limitations  were  not  so  strict 
as  for  the  Flamen  Dialis.  They  were,  for  instance,  not  bound 
to  their  residence  by  daily  sacrifices  (VIII:  552),  but  they 
could  even  go  to  the  province,  cross  the  boundary  lines,  mount 
a  horse  etc.  They  were  not  compelled  to  wear  the  praetexta 
at  all  times,  and  could  take  off  the  apex,  except  when  sacri- 
ficing. 

4.)     The    V  e  st  a  I  e  s    V  ir  g  in  e  s  . 

Thus  were  called  the  virgin  priestesses  of  Vesta,  the  protect- 
ing goddess  of  the  Roman  hearth,  in  whose  temple  perpetual 
fire  was  burning  (II:  296,  297).  This  institution  is  generally 
ascribed  to  Numa;  but  how  about  Romulus,  whose  mother 
is  said  to  have  been  a  Vestal  Virgin  (1:273)  ?  There  were 
Vestal  Virgins  at  Lavinium  (III :  12)  and,  of  course,  at  Rome, 
where  Vesta  had  a  temple  at  the  foot  of  the  Palatine  hill.  It 
was  no  real  temple  in  the  narrower  sense  of  the  word,  accord- 
ing to  the  principle  of  Varro,  that  a  temple  has  to  be  a  four 
cornered  edifice  (II :  512)  ;  for  the  temple  of  Vesta  was  round. 
Nor  was  it  consecrated  by  the  augurs,  so  that,  for  example, 
the  senate  could  not  meet  there.  The  ' l  monasterial "  residence 
of  the  Vestales  was  the  Atrium  Vestae,  situated  close  by 
( VII:  153).- 

Of  the  Vestal  service  at  Lavinium  tradition  tells  that 
there  once  a  Vestal  Virgin  was  struck  by  lightning,  because 
she  had  been  unchaste,  and  that  the  other  Vestal  Virgin  who 
slept  beside  her  had  noticed  nothing  at  all  of  the  accident 
(111:12).  All  water  which  was  necessary  at  sacrificial  ser- 
vices in  Lavinium,  had  to  be  taken  from  the  Numicus  river 
(VII:  150)  ;  at  any  rate,  it  had  to  be  spring  water  (hausta) 
which  was  carried  to  the  place  of  sacrifice  in  jars  which  could 
not  be  set  on  the  ground  without  pouring  out  the  contents; 
hence  called  vasa  futtilia  (XI:  339).  On  a  certain  day  the 
Vestal  Virgins  went  to  the  Rex  Sacrorum  and  said:  "vigi- 
lasne  rex?  vigila!"  (X:228),  a  rite,  about  which  nothing 
further  is  known.  This  is  all  we  can  gather  from  Servius 
about  the  functions  of  the  Vestals.  — 

The  goddess  Caca,  too,  who  very  early  passed  into  oblivion, 
had  a  chapel  at  Rome  where  she  was  worshipped  by  Virgines 
Vestae  (VIII:  190).  Preller  (II.  pg.  287)  and  Wissowa  (pg. 
144,  145)  follow  the  reading  of  the  Codex  Floriacensis:  "a 


—  27  — 

chapel  where  she    (Caca)    was  worshipped  like  Vesta,  with 
perpetual  fire." 

In  connection  with  Vesta  and  Lavinium  penates  are  also 
mentioned,  and  these  by  no  means  can  we  pass  over.  About 
penates  as  deities  of  the  house  we  have  already  spoken  (Part 
1:2).  Since  however  the  Roman  state  was  considered  one 
house,  one  family,  naturally  there  also  existed  penates  of  the 
state,  and  these  will  be  considered  here.  In  general,  originally 
the  penates  of  Aeneas  were  understood  by  these,  and  the 
Romans  were  satisfied  with  the  thought  that  they  were  the 
deities  which  Aeneas  had  brought  with  him  t  o  Lavinium 
and  for  Lavinium ;  for  twice,  tradition  tells,  had  the  Romans 
tried  to  transfer  them  to  Rome,  but  every  time  they  had 
returned  to  their  place  in  Lavinium  (111:12).  Later  an 
attempt  was  made  to  find  out  which  deities  were  meant, 
whether  Vesta  was  one  of  the  penates  or  not  etc.  (II :  296) .  It 
is  Cassius  Hemina  the  annalist,  who  introduces  the  theory 
that  the  penates  were  the  so-called  magni  dei  from  Samothrace 
(1 :  378).  Varro,  who  otherwise  speaks  of  the  penates  Aeneae 
as  being  little  statues  of  wood  or  stone  (1:378;  111:148), 
was  not  strictly  opposed  to  the  theory  of  Cassius  Hemina ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  was  rather  conciliatory  toward  that  theory, 
and  even  conjectured  about  Castor  and  Pollux,  whose  big 
statues  were  at  Samothrace  (111:12).  Still  he  maintained 
that  Dardanus  had  brought  these  penates  from  Samothrace 
to  Phrygia,  and  Aeneas  from  Phrygia  to  Italy,  i.  e.  to  Lavi- 
nium. Nigidius  and  Labeo  mention  Neptune  and  Apollo  as 
these  penates  (1:378;  111:119)  ;  others  mention  Caelum  ac 
Terra  =  Jupiter  and  Juno,  or  Jupiter,  Minerva,  Mercuriub, 
or  Juno,  Jupiter,  Minerva  and  Mercurius.  (11:296;  VIII: 
679)  ;  and  still  others  simply  mention  "youths  armed  with 
the  spear"  (11:325).  The  Etruscans,  even,  mention  Ceres, 
Pales  and  Fortuna  as  the  penates  (11:325).  The  question 
might  perhaps  justly  be  raised:  All  these  speculations,  cui 
bono?  One  of  the  reasons  which  Servius  (111:12)  enu- 
merates, why  it  is,  perhaps,  that  these  penates  were  called 
magni  dei,  is,  "because  nobody  knows  their  names;"  there- 
fore we  also  may  do  well  in  letting  the  speculation  rest. 

5.)   The  Augures  and  Auspices.* 

The  establishment  of  the  augures  or  auspices  as  they  were 
called  in  ancient  time,  (a  class  of  officials,  who  had  to  read 


—  28  — 

the  will  of  the  gods  from  the  flight  or  twittering  of  birds 
and  from  other  signs)  is  generally  attributed  to  Numa, 
although,  indeed,  Romulus  and  Remus  were  the  first  Roman 
auspices  (1:273).  They  wore  the  trabea,  the  purple  and 
scarlet-striped  public  garb  (VII :  188) .  — 

The  difference  between  augurium  (avigerium)  and  auspi- 
cium  (avispicium)  is  this,  that  the  augurium  is  sought  for 
and  is  given  by  certain  birds,  while  the  auspicium  is  given 
by  any  birds  and  is  not  sought.  Accordingly,  an  auspicium 
may  be  considered  a  species  of  the  augurium  (1 :  398  ;  III :  20) . 
It  was  not  sufficient,  however,  to  see  a  single  augurium;  it 
had  to  be  confirmed  ex  simili  (II :  691 ;  III : 515) .  - 

The  signa  ex  caelo  are  to  be  treated  later  under  haruspices; 
about  the  signa  ex  avibus  the  following  may  be  mentioned 
here..  Birds  were  grouped  into  two  classes,  the  alites,  those 
that  were  significant  by  flight,  and  the  oscines,  those  that  were 
significant  by  their  voice.  When  propitious,  they  were  called 
praepetes,  when  unpropitious,  inebrae  (1 :393 ;  III :  246,  361) . 
Those  birds  who  as  alites  gave  propitious  omens,  were 
as  oscines  unpropitious  and  vice  versa  (IV:  462).  Doves  give 
an  augurium  only  to  a  king,  swans  only  to  navigators  (1 :  393) . 
In  other  respects,  too,  there  is  a  certain  regulation  of  rank 
among  birds.  An  eagle,  for  example,  is  valued  more  highly} 
than  a  dove  (II:  691)  or  an  owl  or  a  wood-pecker  (III:  374). I 
When  observing  the  signa  ex  caelo,  especially  those  ex  avibus,\ 
the  augur  after  prayer  limited  with  his  lituus  the  space, 
templum,  of  the  sky  and  on  earth,  within  which  space  he 
wished  to  take  the  augurium  (VII:  187).  Immovably  he  sat 
(IX :  4)  or  stood  there  (VI :  197)  and  looked  towards  the  East, 
and  accordingly  he  had  the  North  at  his  left,  the  South  at 
his  right  and  the  West  at  his  back;  thus  Servius  (11:693) 
expressly  states,  while  others  maintain  that  the  augur  was 
looking  toward  the  South  and  that,  consequently,  the  East 
was  at  his  left,  the  West  at  his  right,  and  the  North  at  his 
back.  Wissowa  (pg.  452,  453)  conjectures  that  "the  way 
of  placing  himself  was  left  entirely  to  the  augur,  only  in  his 
invocation  he  had  to  indicate  exactly,  what  he  considered 
front,  left,  right  or  back,  in  order  that  there  could  be  no 
doubt  about  the  interpretation  of  the  omens;  and  this  really 
is  meant  by  legum  dictio  (III:  89)."  The  omens  which  came 
from  the  left,  were,  according  to  Roman  interpretation, 
propitious,  those  from  the  right,  unpropitious  (11:693).— 


—  29  — 

The  so-called  signa  ex  tripudiis,  omens  observed  from  the 
manner  in  which  the  sacred  chickens  devoured  the  food, 
Servius  mentions  (VI :  198)  as  pertaining  to  comitia  and  war, 
because  they  are  short  and  convenient.  In  III :  90  he  also 
mentions  a  tripudium  sonivium,  i.  e.  a  sono,  such  as,  for 
example,  when  a  tree  tumbles  over  with  its  roots  or  the  earth 
quakes.  An  augurium,  too,  which  is  called  iugetis,  quod  ex 
iunctis  iumentis  fiat,  is  mentioned  (III:  537). — 

Of  the  dim,  the  evil,  ill-forboding  omens  there  are  many. 
A  screech-owl  that  screeches  upon  a  building,  forebodes  death ; 
however,  when  it  does  not  screech,  it  brings  luck.  When  a 
screech  owl  carries  to  a  roof  a  little  twig  from  a  funeral  pyre, 
a  fire  is  to  be  expected  (IV:  462).  The  grues,  cranes,  bring  a 
storm  (X:  266).  To  see  a  burning  funeral  pyre  brings  mis- 
fortune to  sailors  (V:7).  When  a  pine-tree  is  struck  by 
lightning,  the  lady  of  the  house,  the  mistress,  is  soon  to  die 
(11:16).  Thunder  makes  void  the  auspicia  (IV:  161)  and 
crossing  a  river  the  auguria  (IX:  24).  It  is  considered  an 
evil  omen,  when  before  a  battle  the  military  emblems  in  the 
camp  are  only  with  great  difficulty  lifted  out  of  the  ground, 
and  a  disaster  is  sure  to  follow.  Crassus  and  his  son  in  the 
war  against  Orodes,  and  Flaminius  in  the  battle  at  the  lacus 
Trasumenus  (XI:  19)  are  proof  of  this  etc.  etc.  - 

For  the  auspicatio  of  a  magistrate,  too,  which  was  under j 
his  direction  of  judgment,  the  augur  had  to  limit  and  define! 
the  place  (locus  effatus),  in  order  that  the  public  act  couldj 
be  there  performed  "auspicato."  Such  "templum"  did  not 
have  to  be  limited  by  walls  and  partitions;  it  was  sufficient 
if  the  four  corners  and  boundaries  were  exactly  and  clearly 
defined  and  if  there  was  but  one  entrance.  The  same  was 
true  of  the  tabernaculum,  whence  the  magistrate  could  per- 
form his  auspices,  and  which  was  fenced  in  by  pales  and 
spears,  linen  canvas  etc.  The  tabernaculum,  too,  had  only  one 
entrance  or  one  exit  respectively  (IV:  200;  11:178).  The 
same  is  true  also  of  larger  districts,  for  example,  of  the  ager 
post  pomoeria,  where  auguria,  too,  were  taken  (VI:  197). 
Whether  he  wished  to  take  notice  or  not  of  the  so-called 
auguria  oblativa,  unsought  omens,  which  perhaps  might 
disturb  the  auguria  inpetrativa,  was  in  the  power  of  the 
magistrate  (XII:  259);  yet  the  decision  whether  thereby  a 
vitium,  an  error  was  committed  or  not,  certainly  rested  with 
the  augur.  — 


—  30  — 

No  war  could  be  begun  without  auspicia  (VII:  606). 
When  no  good  results  in  the  war  would  appear,  the 
general  returned  to  Rome  to  obtain  new  auguria.  Later, 
however,  especially  when  war  was  waged  outside  of  Italy, 
the  general  was  freed  from  the  trouble  of  undertaking  such 
a  journey,  which  sometimes  kept  him  away  from  his  army 
for  a  long  time,  by  instituting  a  so-called  ager  Romanus  in 
that  province;  and  to  this  ager  Romanus  the  general  went, 
when  the  auspicia  had  to  be  renewed  (II:  78). 

6.)     The     Quindecimviri     s  acr  is     faciundis. 

The  Sibylline  books  were  entrusted  to  the  care  of  the 
Quindecimviri;  hence  they  were  called  Sibylline  priests  (III: 
332).  At  first  there  were  two  of  them,  then  ten,  then  fifteen 
to  the  time  of  Sulla,  lateron  still  more,  even  sixty;  yet  the 
name  was  confined  to  the  number  fifteen,  whence  Quin- 
decimviri ( VI :  73) .  — 

Sibylla,  cfiov  (Seovj  fiovJrf,  i.  e.  the  voice  or  will  of  God 
(111:445;  VI:  12),  especially  vates  Apollinis,  i.  e.  proph- 
etess of  Apollo  (111:332),  is  really  a  generic  term. 
Vergil  mentions  a  Sibylla  of  Cumae,  Varro  the  one 
of  Erythrae  (VI:  36);  Varro  even  wrote  a  book  about 
the  number  of  Sibyls  (111:445).  The  replies  of  the  Sibyls 
were  oral  or  more  frequently  written.  According  to  Varro 
they  were  even  written  on  palm  leaves,  sometimes  consisting 
only  of  certain  notes  (notae),  in  fact  of  single  letters  (notae 
litter  arum),  sometimes  in  connected  words  (sermones)  and 
then  always  in  verse  form  (III :  444,  445 ;  VI :  74) .  According 
to  tradition  the  Romans  came  into  possession  of  the  Sibylline 
books  in  this  wTay:  One  time  a  woman,  named  Amalthea, 
offered  to  king  Tarquinius  for  a  high  price  nine  books  con- 
taining the  decrees  of  the  destiny  of  the  Romans  and  the 
appropriate  remedies,  oracles  in  the  Greek  language;  but 
the  price  of  the  books  was  too  high  for  the  king.  Then  she 
burned  three  books  and  demanded  the  same  price  for  the  rest. 
Again  the  price  being  refused,  a  second  time  she  again  burned 
three  books  and  for  the  books  that  were  left,  she  received  the 
price  which  she  originally  asked  for  all,  because  the  king  was 
amazed  by  the  fact  that  the  price  still  remained  the  same. 
These  books  were  preserved  in  the  temple  of  Apollo,  together 
with  those  of  the  Marcii  fratres  and  of  the  nymph  Begoe 
(VI:  72).  They  were  later  destroyed  by  a  fire  in  the  temple 


—  31  — 

of  Apollo,  but  they  were  replaced  by  a  new  collection,  especi- 
ally from  Erythrae  (VI:  321).  Servius  apparently  confuses 
the  temple  of  Apollo  with  the  Capitolinum  which  burnt 
down  in  83  B.  C.  The  new  collection  of  the  Sibylline  books 
came  into  the  temple  of  Apollo  only  under  the  reign  of 
Augustus.  The  Sibylline  books,  as  we  mentioned  above,  were 
entrusted  to  the  care  of  the  Quindecimviri,  who  consulted 
them  for  the  state  in  dangerous  and  critical  times.  Servius, 
however,  does  not  mention  a  special  case  or  rather  a  descrip- 
tion of  such  a  case;  yet  he  indicates  (111:332),  that  tripod 
and  dolphin,  the  symbols  of  Apollo,  played  an  important  part 
in  the  service  of  the  Quindecimviri. 

7. )     The    H  aru  spices. 

Thus  the  Romans  called  the  soothsayers  who  exercised  the 
haruspicina.  The  haruspicina  did  not  rest  upon  inspiration, 
as  the  oracles  of  the  Sibyl  did,  but  upon  skill  and  a  skilful 
system  (111:359).  It  originated  with  the  Etruscans,  also 
called  Tusci  (ano  rov  Ovsiv  /;  Tages  is  said  to  have  invented  this 
art  (II :  781)  and  to  have  set  it  forth  in  the  libri  Haruspicinae 
and  the  sacra  Acheruntia  (VIII:  398).  Besides,  there  are 
mentioned  the  libri  reconditi  (1:398;  11.649)  ;  furthermore, 
the  Etrusci  libri  de  fulguratura  (1:42)  and  the  ars  fulguri- 
tarum,  which  was  written  by  the  nymph  Begoe  (VI:  72). — 

Thereby  it  is  indicated  that  haruspicina  refers  not  only 
to  the  inspection  of  the  entrails,  but  also  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  lightning.  To  these  a  third  matter  may  be  added,  the 
interpretation  of  prodigia,  phenomena  contrary  to  nature. 
Servius  seems  to  have  dealt  little  with  prodigia.  About  the 
extispicina,  inspection  of  entrails,  nothing  more  can  be  added 
to  what  has  been  mentioned  on  various  occasions  under 
"sacrificia."  Still  we  have  to  speak  of  the  little  we  find 
regarding  the  interpretation  of  lightning.  ' '  Interpretation  of 
lightning"  we  said,  interpretation  is  really  all;  for  means  of 
atonement  are  not  furnished  by  the  Haruspices.  In  the  libri 
Etrusci  lightning  is  called  manubiae,  and  Jupiter,  Juno, 
Minerva  and  Vulcan  are  called  hurlers  of  lightning  (1:42). 
Elsewhere  (VIII:  429)  Servius  points  to  the  twelve  months 
of  the  year,  divides  the  year  into  the  four  seasons  and 
attributes  the  manubiae  of  the  winter  to  Jupiter,  those  of  the 
spring  to  Juno,  those  of  the  summer  to  Mars  and  those  of 
the  autumn  to  Auster.  The  Physici,  the  natural  philosophers 


(VIII:  427),  divided  the  sky  into  sixteen  districts  whence 
lightning  comes.  — 

Three  kinds  of  lightning  are  mentioned  (11:649),  fulmen 
quod  adflat,  quod  incendit,  quod  findit.  When  lightning  has 
touched  (adflavit)  a  nobleman  or  a  king  and  he  remains  alive, 
then  his  posterity  could  be  assured  of  perpetual  renown  and 
highest  honors,  as  in  the  case  of  Anchises  and  his  decendants. 
Similar  is  the  triplex  potestas  fulminis  in  VIII :  429 ;  there 
is  a  fulmen  ostentatorium,  i.  e.  lightning  which  causes  fear 
and  fright,  a  fulmen  peremptorium,  i.  e.  one  which  destroys, 
and,  finally,  a  fulmen  praesagum,  i.  e.  one  which  forbodes  or 
prophesies.  Evidently  the  Etruscans  had  acquired  their  disci- 
plina  by  experience  and  exercise  of  many  years,  and  the 
Romans  took  great  care  that  their  skill  of  interpreting  the 
divine  will  should  be  perpetuated  through  education.  The 
Haruspices  were  not  public  priests  in  the  strict  sense, 
although,  especially  in  later  times,  they  were  of  great  im- 
portance, since  they  had  the  function  of  inspecting  the 
entrails. 

8.)   The    Fet  idles'   and    the    Pater    Pair  at  us. 

This  was  the  name  of  the  collegium  of  priests  which  was 
instituted  by  Numa  or  Ancus  Marcius  and  which  under 
certain  rites  performed  and  consecrated  treaties,  declarations 
of  war  etc.  (1:62;  IV:  243;  VII:  623;  XII:  120).  The 
symbols,  —  silex,  flint  stone  (VIII:  641)  and  sceptre  (XII: 
206)  — whereby  they  proved  that  they  were  guardians  and 
representatives  of  international  law  and  also  representatives 
of  Jupiter,  they  took  from  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  whenever 
they  wished  to  conclude  a  treaty  or  declare  war.  Another 
symbol  they  had  was  a  garland  of  verbenae,  sacred  grass, 
which  grew  at  a  consecrated  place  on  the  Capitol  (XII :  120). 
The  iura  fetialia  the  Romans  had  received  from  the  Falisci 
in  Etruria  (VII:  695).  Pater  patratus  was  called  the  con- 
stituent—  princeps,  according  to  Servius  (IX:  52) — who 
in  every  case  was  chosen  from  their  number.  The  Fetiales 
and  Pater  patratus  were  not  allowed  to  wear  linen  clothing 
(XII:  120).- 

The  word  foedus  is  said  to  have  its  origin  in  the  fact  that 
the  victim  —  a  pig,  porcus  —  prescribed  for  a  foedus  (treaty) , 
was  killed  lifoede"  with  the  sacred  flint  (silex)  and  not  with 
a  knife  or  a  sword  (I:  62;  VIII :  641,  X:  154).  Water  and 


—  33  — 

fire  were  indispensable  in  concluding  a  treaty;  as  also  in 
regard  to  him  whom  they  banished  from  their  community, 
the  Romans  used  the  expression :  aqua  et  igni  ei  interdicimus 
(XII:  119).  According  to  ancient  tradition  the  fire  had  to 
be  obtained  from  heaven  by  invocation  of  Jupiter  who 
consecrates  treaties  with  his  lightning.  Gleaming  —  corus- 
catio  —  SL  faint  lightning  sufficed  (XII :  200).- 

If  the  Roman  people  thought  that  they  had  been  insulted 
in  any  way  by  another  people,  and  that  there  was  a  sufficient 
and  just  reason  for  war,  the  Pater  patratus  with  a  few 
Fetiales  was  at  first  sent  to  the  border  to  demand  satisfaction 
in  clear  and  unmistakable  language  (hence  called  clarigatio)  ; 
he,  furthermore,  demanded  reason  for  such  behavior  on  the 
part  of  the  people  in  question,  otherwise  a  declaration  of 
war  would  be  inevitable.  If  no  satisfaction  was  given,  they 
(the  Pater  patratus  and  the  Fetiales)  returned  after  thirty 
days  and,  invoking  Jupiter  and  Janus  (XII:  198,  200),  the 
Pater  patratus  threw  a  spear  into  the  hostile  country,  whereby 
war  was  officially  declared.  But  since  in  later  years,  on 
account  of  the  expansion  of  the  Roman  empire,  all  this  could 
not  be  done  at  the  boundary  of  the  hostile  country,  this  rite 
took  place  at  the  little  square  before  the  temple  of  Bellona 
near  the  city.  In  the  war  against  Pyrrhus  this  small  piece 
of  land  was  bought  by  a  captive  and  declared  to  be  the 
enemy's  country.  There,  consequently,  the  Pater  patratus 
from  that  time  on  hurled  the  spear  over  the  columna,  the 
pillar  marking  the  boundary  of  the  so-called  enemy's  country 
(IX:  52). 

9.)   The    Salii. 

The  name  Salii  is  perhaps  best  derived  from  salio  —  to 
dance  — ,  since  they  danced  around  the  altars  and  since 
armed  dances  were  connected  with  their  processions  through 
the  city  (VIII :  285,  663) .  Another  derivation  is  the  one  from 
a  certain  Salius,  a  companion  of  Aeneas  (VIII:  663)  ;  a  third 
one  is  from  Halesus  (cUc  =  sal),  the  son  of  Neptune  (VIII : 
285).  According  to  a  fourth  derivation  the  Romans  made 
"Salii"  out  of  the  word  "Sai,"  by  which  name  at  Samothrace 
the  priests  of  the  penates  were  said  to  have  been  called 
(II :  325) .  The  assertion  of  Servius  that  Numa  had  instituted 
the  Salii  Collini  et  Quirinales,  but  Hostilius  the  Pavonii  et 
Pallorii  (VIII:  285),  is  not  supported  by  others.  Generally 


—  34  — 

the  8 alii  Palatini  are  attributed  to  Numa  and  the  8 alii  Collini 
atque  Quirinales  to  Hostilius.  All  were  consecrated  to  Jupi- 
ter, Mars  and  Quirinus  (VIII :  663).  At  Tusculum,  too,  there 
were  Salii  who  were  even  said  to  be  older  than  those  at 
Rome,  also  at  Tibur,  where  they  worshipped  Hercules  (VIII : 
285).— 

To  the  armor  of  the-  Salii  belonged  above  all  the 
ancilia,  small  shields,  which  for  their  processions  and  armed 
dances  they  fetched  from  the  temple  of  Mars,  where  they 
were  generally  preserved.  Originally  there  was  only  one 
small  shield  which,  according  to  tradition,  had  fallen  from 
heaven.  Connected  with  this  shield  was  the  prophecy  that, 
wherever  this  shield  was,  there  also  would  be  the  empire  of 
the  world.  Consequently,  in  order  that  the  enemy  should  not 
be  able  to  recognize  and  take  away  the  shield,  Mamurius  the 
artisan  is  said  to  have  made  many  similar  shields  for  Numa, 
which  were  classed  among  the  precious  things  of  the  Roman 
empire.  In  remembrance  the  Romans  celebrated  in  March 
the  Mamuralia,  with  which  festival  the  peculiar  rite  was 
connected  that  the  Salii  "lashed  a  fleece,"  i.e.,  most  likely, 
a  man  covered  with  fleece,  ad  artis  similitudinem,  since  a 
smith,  too,  is  constantly  hammering  and  beating  (VII :  188 ; 
VIII:  664).  This  is  all  the  information  we  can  derive  from 
Servius  about  the  Salii. 

10.)   The   Luperci. 

The  Luperci  are  priests  "of  him  who  wards  off  wolves;" 
for  Lupercus  is  the  name  of  the  Lycaean  Pan,  and  Pan,  as 
said  above,  is  identical  with  Faunus,  the  god  of  sheep  and 
shepherds.  — 

Even  Romulus  and  Remus,  according  to  tradition,  celebrated 
the  Lupercalia  before  the  founding  of  the  city.  Accordingly, 
this  is  the  oldest  Roman  festival.  The  story  goes  that  at  a 
certain  time  word  was  brought  to  them  that  robbers  had 
driven  away  their  cattle,  but  that  they,  Romulus  and  Remus, 
even  leaving  behind  their  toga,  had  pursued  the  robbers  and 
had  taken  the  cattle  away  from  them.  Hence  the  explanation 
that  later  the  Luperci  appeared  stripped  at  the  festival,  i.  e. 
perhaps  only  clad  in  the  fleece  of  the  victim.  The  festival 
began  with  the  sacrifice  of  a  ram  in  the  Lupercal  at  the  foot 
of  the  Palatine,  where  the  she-wolf  had  nursed  Romulus  and 
Remus.  Then  the  Luperci,  nudi,  as  explained  above,  hurried 


—  35  — 

through  the  city,  and  married  women  willingly  submitted 
to  be  lashed  with  straps  (Part  1:2),  because  this  was  said 
to  bring  fecundity,  as  well  as  purification  and  expiation 
(VIII:  343,  663).- 

For  the  worship  of  Apollo  Soranus  at  Soracte  Servius  men- 
tions also  Luperci,  the  so-called  hirpi  Sorani,  (hirpus  is  the 
Sabine  word  for  wolf).  Whether  they  were  in  any  way 
connected  with  or  related  to  the  Roman  Luperci,  does  not 
appear  in  the  quotation  from  Servius  (XI :  785). 

11.)  T  h  e  Mag  is  t  r  a  t  u  s,  e  s  p  e  c  i  a  1  ly  t  h  e  Ma  g  is  - 
trains  m  ai  o  r  e  s . 

The  common  robe  of  the  Magistrates  was  the  praetexta,  the 
purple-broidered  toga  (XII:  169).  The  Imperatores  had  a 
right  to  the  sella  curulis  (as  the  curulian  magistrates  in 
general)  and  to  the  trabea,  i.  e.  the  purple-striped  public  garb 
(XI:  334).  When  at  the  founding  of  a  city  a  magistrate 
marked  out  the  walls  of  the  new  city  with  the  plough,  he  wore 
the  toga  in  the  so-called  cinctus  Gabinus  (cf.  Part  II,  A:l  at 
the  public  sacrificia).  Of  the  team  of  cattle,  the  bull  was  on 
the  right  side,  the  outside,  the  cow  on  the  left,  the  inside. 
The  plough  had  to  be  handled  in  such  a  way  that  the  clods 
fell  inside ;  where  there  was  to  be  a  gate,  the  plough  was  raised 
and  the  furrow  interrupted  (IV :  212 ;  V :  755) .  The  Consules, 
Praetores  and  even  the  Dictator  were  accustomed  to  sacrifice 
to  the  penates  at  Lavinium  and  to  Vesta,  whenever  they 
began  their  term  of  oifice  or  ended  it.  The  Imperatores,  too, 
sacrificed  to  the  penates,  when  they  departed  for  their 
provinces  (11:296;  111:12).  Whoever  undertook  the  com- 
mand of  war,  first  went  into  the  temple  of  Mars,  moved  the 
ancilia  and  hasta,  and  said:  "Mars  vigila!"  (VIII:  3; 
VII :  603).- 

The  census,  i.  e.  estimating  the  possessions  of  a  Roman  citi- 
zen and  assigning  him  as  a  tax  payer  to  a  certain  class,  was 
taken,  as  the  name  implies,  by  the  Censores,  and  such  a  census 
was  supposed  to  take  place  every  fifth  year.  It  ended  with 
the  lustrum,  the  expiation  of  the  entire  populace,  on  the 
Campus  Martins.  At  this  lustrum  the  Censor,  or  according 
to  the  expressed  statement  of  Servius,  both  censors  (hence 
ambilustrum)  had  to  sacrifice  a  pig,  a  sheep  and  a  bujl,  called 
Suovetaurilia  (1 :  283  ;  VIII :  183) .  — 


—  36  — 

Ever  since  the  sacra  Herculis  (which  were  discussed  else- 
where in  this  dissertation)  became  a  public  affair,  the  Praetor 
urbanus  had  to  offer  the  sacrifice  annually  at  the  ara  maxima. 
He  as  well  as  the  people  around,  for  this  occasion,  was  adorned 
with  garlands  of  laurel,  according  to  Greek  ritual.  The  liba- 
tion of  wine  was  performed  from  the  large  cup  of  Hercules 
which  was  kept  tight  by  pitch,  and  which  Hercules  himself 
is  said  to  have  brought  to  Italy  (VIII:  276,  278).- 

This  is  about  all  that  can  be  said  about  Rites  and  Ritual 
Acts,  as  prescribed  by  the  Roman  Religion,  according  to  the 
commentary  of  Servius  on  Vergil's  Aeneid.  Perhaps  one  or 
the  other  of  my  readers  may  look  in  vain  for  this  or  that, 
which  he  expected  to  find.  But  to  him  we  would  say :  "  It  is 
not  to  be  found  in  Servius."  We  do  not  lay  claim  to  absolute 
correctness,  yet  the  assurance  may  be  given  that  the  1300  or 
more  pages  of  the  commentary  have  been  read  carefully  and 
studied  through  twice  and  in  most  cases  even  three  times; 
and  an  index-volume  has  not  yet  been  published.  Another 
of  my  readers  may  think :  * '  But  what  is  cited  from  Servius 
does  not  always  agree  with  what  I  have  found  elsewhere." 
That  is  a  question  which  may  be  settled  with  Servius  and  the 
other  sources.  Our  aim  and  intention  was  to  cling  to  Servius, 
although  occasionally  we  found  it  necessary  to  discuss  differ- 
ences too  great  to  be  passed  over  without  comment.  — 

From  all  that  has  been  said,  it  appears  at  least,  that  Roman 
ritualism,  extremely  complicated  as  it  was,  comprised  almost 
everything  to  the  minutest  details,  and  that  it  must  have  been 
(who  knows  how)  troublesome  and  difficult  to  live  up  to  all 
that  was  prescribed.  And  taken  as  a  whole,  with  all  this 
formalism,  how  little  sincerity  was  there !  — 

In  conclusion  let  us  say  a  word  of  praise  in  honor  of 
Servius :  In  his  whole  commentary  there  is  not  a  single 
attack  or  side-cut  upon  Christianity,  which  most  gladly  he 
would  have  extirpated.  In  fact,  he  does  not  mention  Christian 
ideas,  but  treats  his  pagan  notions  simply  from  an  objective 
point  of  view,  and  leaves  it  to  the  option  of  the  reader  to 
make  inferences  himself.  But  through  this  we  have  come  into 
possession  of  a  commentary  to  Vergil,  which  no  one  who 
claims  to  understand  Vergil  thoroughly,  can  easily  pass  over. 
Not  only  Roman  religion,  but  also  philosophy,  mythology, 
natural  science,  old  Latin,  usage  of  words,  ordo,  i.  e.  correct 
sequence  of  words  for  the  translation  of  difficult  passages,  — 


07  _ 

O  t 

all  this  is  properly  treated.  The  commentary  is  especially  valu- 
able to  us  on  account  of  the  very  many  quotations,  both  short 
and  long,  from  works  which  have  not  been  entirely  preserved 
for  us.  Of  the  works  of  Varro,  for  example,  only  two  are 
extant,  and  the  one  of  them  incomplete.  To  whom,  however, 
are  we  indebted  for  whatever  else  we  have  or  know  of  the 
works  of  Varro?  Of  course,  not  entirely,  but  certainly  to  a 
great  extent  —  to  Servius. 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 
(510)642-6753 

•  1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4 
days  prior  to  due  date. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 
SEHTONILL 


APR  30  1999 


U.C.  BERKELEY 


AUG  0  3 


12,000(11/95) 


